Sign in. Editorial Policies. Send email. Copy url:. Mei Ciu Chang. Bee Koon Poh. Janice June. Norsakira Jefrydin.
Srijit Das. Anaemia symbolizes both poor nutrition and poor health. In the world, more than 2 billion people suffer from anaemia. It has an impact on psychological and physical development, behaviour, and work performance [2]. It is a severe health problem in nearly all developing countries, where between one-third and one-half of the female and child populations are anaemic [1].
The risk of developing anaemia in developing countries is greater than in any developed countries. Women and children are the most vulnerable individuals. Anaemia prevalence is usually higher in rural areas than urban areas. Several studies on prevalence of anaemia have been carried out in rural areas of Malaysia, including those in adult women [3], Malay men and women [4], pregnant women [5, 6] and young adult women [3, 7, 8]. However, there was only one study which reported data from the urban areas of Malaysia [9].
Keeping the above facts in mind, the aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of anaemia in adolescent girls and reproductive-aged women in an urban area of Kuala Lumpur. Material and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in mid Subjects comprised healthy and non-pregnant reproductive-aged adult women between 20 and 50 years old, and adolescent girls aged between 13 and 17 years were selected because of the simple reason that the secondary school had girls in the above-mentioned age group.
The inclusion criteria for adult women were non-pregnant as declared by subjects themselves, pre-menopausal, and healthy women aged between 20 and 50 years. The inclusion criteria for the adolescent girls was that they were healthy and literate. Adolescent girls were randomly selected from four secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while adult women were recruited from police living quarters, churches and dental clinics at Universiti Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM.
