TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of socioeconomic and health related factors on the iron status of adolescent girls from two boarding schools in Southern Benin
AU - Alaofè, Halimatou
AU - Zee, John
AU - Dossa, Romain
AU - O'Brien, Huguette Turgeon
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author received a grant from AUF (Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie). The authors thank the girls and the boarding school personnel who participated in this study and Bouraima Ichola for his assistance in the implementation of this study. We wish to express our very special appreciation to Dr. Falilou ADEBO and Biomerieux, whose contribution was central to this project. There was no competing interest between authors. All authors made substantial contributions to all of the following: 1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, 3) final approval of the version to be submitted.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - To our knowledge, the impact of socioeconomic and health related factors on the iron status of adolescent girls has never been studied in Benin. Objective: These factors were studied in 180 girls aged 12 to 17 years living in two boarding schools from South Benin. Methods: Iron deficiency (ID) was defined as either serum ferritin (SF) < 20 μg/L or SF between 20-50 μg/L plus two abnormal values in the three following parameters: serum iron < 11 μmol/L, total iron binding capacity > 73 μmol/L or transferrin saturation < 20%. Socioeconomic and health related factors were obtained from each participant by mean of an interview using a standardized and pre-tested questionnaire. Results: Almost half the participants reported some health problems in the last four months before the study, whereas more than 75% auto-medicated before going to the hospital. The majority of the girls believed themselves to be in good health, although only 16% could define the term 'anemia'. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that girls whose mother was a manual worker (P = .002), who came from a larger family (P = .0001), and who auto-medicated (P = .014), had a lower hemoglobin level, whereas girls who had started their menstruation (P = .008) had a lower SF level. In a logistic regression analysis, girls from a large family size and whose mother was a manual worker showed a higher risk of IDA (OR = 3.5; 95%CI = 1.1-2.5; P = .04; OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 1.2-2.2; P = .04 respectively). Conclusion: The findings indicate that iron deficiency is related to the occupation of the mother, family size, auto-medication, and menstruation.
AB - To our knowledge, the impact of socioeconomic and health related factors on the iron status of adolescent girls has never been studied in Benin. Objective: These factors were studied in 180 girls aged 12 to 17 years living in two boarding schools from South Benin. Methods: Iron deficiency (ID) was defined as either serum ferritin (SF) < 20 μg/L or SF between 20-50 μg/L plus two abnormal values in the three following parameters: serum iron < 11 μmol/L, total iron binding capacity > 73 μmol/L or transferrin saturation < 20%. Socioeconomic and health related factors were obtained from each participant by mean of an interview using a standardized and pre-tested questionnaire. Results: Almost half the participants reported some health problems in the last four months before the study, whereas more than 75% auto-medicated before going to the hospital. The majority of the girls believed themselves to be in good health, although only 16% could define the term 'anemia'. Multivariate regression analysis indicated that girls whose mother was a manual worker (P = .002), who came from a larger family (P = .0001), and who auto-medicated (P = .014), had a lower hemoglobin level, whereas girls who had started their menstruation (P = .008) had a lower SF level. In a logistic regression analysis, girls from a large family size and whose mother was a manual worker showed a higher risk of IDA (OR = 3.5; 95%CI = 1.1-2.5; P = .04; OR = 3.0; 95%CI = 1.2-2.2; P = .04 respectively). Conclusion: The findings indicate that iron deficiency is related to the occupation of the mother, family size, auto-medication, and menstruation.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Anemia
KW - Benin
KW - Health related factors
KW - Iron deficiency
KW - Socioeconomic factors
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U2 - 10.1515/IJAMH.2009.21.4.545
DO - 10.1515/IJAMH.2009.21.4.545
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77649265597
SN - 0334-0139
VL - 21
SP - 545
EP - 554
JO - International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health
JF - International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health
IS - 4
ER -