Abstract

Good nutrition and appropriate lifestyle behavior are essential for optimum growth and development of adolescents. Since malnutrition during adolescence affects the future of not only the individuals but the society as a whole, so this present study was carried out among adolescents in slums with the aim of asessng their nutritional status and  to find out the sociodemographic factors influencing malnutrition among them. A cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study was carried out in three randomly selected slums in the urban field practice area of Calcutta National Medical College. A sample of 291 adolescents were selected following complete enumeration technique among the permanent residents of those slums. A predesigned, pretested, structured schedule was used for collecting data regarding nutritional status and sociodemographic factors. The study population was found to be comprised of 123 (42.3%) males and 168 (57.7%) females. According to BMI, among the study population 21 (7.2%) were obese, 30 (10.3) were over-weight, 135 (46.4%) were normal, 90 (30.9%) were thin and 15 (5.2%) were very thin. Gender, religion, education of parents, type of family and socio-economic status were found significantly associated (p<0.05) with different categories of BMI. Thus strengthening adolescent health through adolescent health clinics will ameliorate their nutritional and other health related problems.

Keywords: Adolescents, Nutritional status, BMI for age, urban.