Prevalence of anaemia among the women of reproductive age group belonging to low socioeconomic status of rural West Bengal, India

Abstract

Anaemia is a major factor in women’s health, in developing countries. Low socio-economic status plays a major role in diseases, including anaemia. Thus, women belonging to low socio-economic group are at high risk for anaemia, especially during their reproductive age (15 to 45 years). We conducted a community based cross-sectional study among women belonging to the age group 15-49 years and living in the rural areas of Paschim Medinipur District to find out the relationship between nutritional status and anaemia. The study was conducted during time period of July, 2016 to December, 2016. A total of 174 non pregnant and non-lactating women were included as study participants. The mean BMI, haemoglobin and serum ferritin of the participants were 19.73±3.54 kg/m2,11.04±1.58 g/dl and 27.06±10.16μg/l respectively. It is also noted that the mean haemoglobin level of the participants of different age groups viz. 15-19 years, 20-29 years, 30-39 years and 40-49 years were 11.32±1.57 g/dl, 11.24±1.70 g/dl, 10.78±1.45 g/dl and 10.94±1.57 g/dl respectively. The prevalence of underweight and overweight in this study population was 40.80% and 6.90% respectively. 66.67 percent women in this study were suffering from anaemia. This study clearly indicated that underweight (67.61%) and overweight (75.00%) participants had the higher prevalence of anaemia while the normal weight (64.84%) participants had the lowest one. It is indicated that these factors are not strongly associated with anaemia in this population. It may be suggested that malnutrition may be associated with anaemia.