Int J Cur Res Rev | Vol 10 • Issue 20 • October 2018 6 Assessment of Nutritional Status of Teenage Adolescent Girls in Urban Slum of Varanasi Divya Rani 1 , Jitendra Kumar Singh 2 , Mona Srivastava 3 , Pragya Verma 4 , Deepali Srivastava 5 , S. P. Singh 6 1,5 Research Scholar, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Science Banaras Hindu University, India; 2 Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Janaki Medical College, Tribhuvan University, Nepal; 3 Professor, Department of Psy- chiatry, Institute of Medical Science Banaras Hindu University, India; 4 Assistant Professor, Department of Home Science, Keshav Prasad Mishra Rajkiya Mahila Mahavidyalaya Aurai Bhadohi, India; 6 Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Science Banaras Hindu University, India. ABSTRACT Aim: India has one of the fastest growing youth populations in the world and adolescent girls of age 13 to 19 year constitute nearly to 66 million. Nutritional deficiencies have far reaching consequences, especially in adolescent girls. Adolescents are more vulnerable to malnutrition. 1. To assess the nutritional status of teenage adolescent girls and 2. To determine the association between socio demographic profile and nutritional status. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out to assess the association between socio demographic profile and nu- tritional status of teen age adolescent girl in Varanasi city. A total no 418 teen age adolescents of 13 to 19 years were selected from urban slum of Varanasi during 2016. Results & Discussion: Nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric measurements. Result shows that 60.3% of adoles- cent girls were undernourished l 35.2% were normal and only 4.6% were overweight. Age and socio economic status of adoles- cent girls were significantly associated with their nutritional status (p < 0.05). Conclusion: It was found that higher proportions of adolescent girls were undernourished. This indicates that adolescents in urban slums need health awareness and importance of nutrition to maintain nutritional status. Key Words: Malnutrition, Adolescent, Nutritional status Corresponding Author: Divya Rani, Research Scholar, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Science Banaras Hindu University, India; Email: divyarani.bhu@gmail.com ISSN: 2231-2196 (Print) ISSN: 0975-5241 (Online) Received: 06.09.2018 Revised: 23.09.2018 Accepted: 13.10.2018 INTRODUCTION Adolescence is the transitional period between childhood and adulthood. During this period individual move towards phys- ical and psychological maturity, and economic independence and acquire their adult identity. According to World Health Organization, adolescent is the period of life spanning the ages between 10 to 19 years. [1] And it constitutes about 22.8 per cent of the population in India. [2] In general adolescent girls are the worst sufferers of the ravages of various forms of malnutrition because of their increased nutritional needs and low social power. [3] Nutritional deficiencies have far reaching consequences, es- pecially in adolescent girls. If their nutritional needs are not met, they are likely to give birth to undernourished children, thus transmitting under nutrition to future generation. Unfor- tunately assessment of nutritional status of adolescent girls has been the latest explored area of research particularly in India. [4] The urban slum adolescent girl is subjected to more physical and mental challenges on a day-to-day basis due to ever increasing pressure of modernization as compared to the rural set up. Malnutrition prevails in slum area due to low economic status, less awareness about healthy diet of Research Article International Journal of Current Research and Review DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.31782/IJCRR.2018.10202 IJCRR Section: Healthcare Sci. Journal Impact Factor: 5.385 (2017) ICV: 71.54 (2015)