Dietary Practices, Anaemia and Nutritional Status among Day-Secondary School Adolescent Girls in Machakos County, Kenya
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Date
2022
Authors
Nduku, Mulei Dorcas
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
A
dolescence is a critical phase of growth and development a nd anaemia during this
stage can cause irreversible negative outcomes on learning, work capacity and
parenthood. P oor diet remains a major risk factor for anaemia an d malnutrition
among adolescent girls. Adoption of good dietary habits in adolescence enhances
o ptimal growth a nd development , and is linked with better health outcomes in
adulthood . This stu dy aim ed to determine anaemia and nutritional status among day
secondary school adol escent girls in Matuu ward , Machakos County ; describe their
dietary practices and establish the associated risk factors. A cross sectional analytical
study design was adopt ed and a sample of 238 girls was random ly selected from the
day schools by propor tion to size . A researcher ad ministered questionnaire was used
for data collection Data on nutrient intake and d ietary p ractices was generated using
a 24 hour dietary recall questionnaire a nd a 7 day food frequency questionnaire
(FFQ). Anthropometric d ata of weight and h eight was used to determine nutrition al
status while haemoglobin ( concentration was used to assess anaemia.
Respondent’s a ge was calculated using WHO Anthr oPlus software. Data entry and
analysis was done using SPSS version 20. BMI for Age BAZ > +2 Z scor e / BMI
≥30 was termed as obesity, BAZ > +1 and < +2 Z score / BMI 25.0 29.9
overweigh t and BAZ < 2 Z score / BMI < 18.5 underweight. Height for Age Z score
HAZ < 2 Z score was stunting . Haemoglobin concentration <120g/L after altitude
adjustment was termed as anaemia. Data from 24hr recall was analysed using Nutri
survey and transferred to SPSS. Pearson correlation and Chi square tests were used
to determine relationships and association between variables. Binary logistic
regression was used to predic t outcomes. The p value for statistical significance was
set at 0.05 . Data was presented in form of percentages, frequencies, and means. The
mean age of the study subjects was 16.79 ± 1.38 Dietary intakes for energy and iron
were below RDA while carbohydr ate intake w as above RDA. A proportion of 44.4
achieved the minimum dietary diversity for women of reproductive a ge (MDD W ).
The prevalence of anaemia was 28.6% 28.6%. A bout a fifth (21.6%) of the respondents
were either underweight, overweight or obese BAZ w as positively related to
carbohydrate intake r = 0.429, p value = <0.001) while iron intake r = 0.61, p value
= and dietary diversity score r = 0.175 , p v alue = 0.012 were positive ly
relat ed to Hb levels Household size ( 0.2 1(95%C.I ; 0.06 0 .70 )), p = 0.030),
morbidity status in previous 2 weeks (AOR =2.7 0 (95%C.I; 1.24 5.90), p = 0.013) 0.013),
dietary diversity tertile (AOR= 0.12(95%C.I; 0.02 0.79), p = 0.039) and adequacy
of iron (AOR=10.4 (95% C.I; 2.12 199.08), p = 0.009) wer e the determinants of
ana emia. Based on these study findings, it is concluded that the problem of anaemia
among the day school adolescent girls is higher than the national level of 23.8% and
their overall nutritional status is poor. Intervention strategies to improve nutrie nt
intake and diversification of diet among adolescent girls in learning insti tutions are
therefore recommended.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Science (Food, Nutrition and Dietetics) in the School of Public Health and Applied Human Sciences of Kenyatta University, June, 2022
Keywords
Dietary Practices, Anaemia, Nutritional Status, Day-Secondary School, Adolescent Girls, Machakos County, Kenya