Assessment of Nutritional Status and Associated Factors Among Adolescent Population in rural Areas of Birbhum District, West Bengal

Background: A body of evidences showed that adolescent undernutrition is a serious public health problem in developing countries including India. Adolescent have typically been considered as low risk for poor health and often receive few health care resource and attention. However, their approach ignores the fact that many health problems later in life can be improved by adopting health life style habits in adolescents. This study aimed to assess prevalence of nutritional status and associated factors among adolescent population in rural areas of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 630 sample population of Birbhum district, age ranging from 10 to 19 years, with 327 men and 303 women adolescents during March 2023 to September 2023 in 2 blocks of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Parameters of height and weight were measured and recorded. Following the completion of questionnaire, the results were compared against the body mass index and abnormal risk factors. Nominal variables were described in terms of frequency and odd's ratio (OR) (with 95% confidence interval) as test of association. Results: Study subjects comprised 327 males (51.90%) and 303 females (48.10%) with overall mean age of 14.63(± 2.77) years. The mean body mass index (BMI) for boys and girls was 16.88 and 15.54 respectively. Most of the participants were students. Overall, 70.79% of the adolescents were belonging to undernutrition (body mass index (BMI) < 18.5 kg/m2), 25.56% were normal (18.50 to 22.99 kg/m2) and 3.65% were overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2). Conclusion: The study showed that malnutrition, and especially undernutrition, is still a problem in adolescents, with a higher prevalence in boys. Nutrition education, through an improved school curriculum, healthy policies and adolescent-directed messages through the various mass media, could be employed to address adolescent undernutrition in the study area.