Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 2008-2023 2008 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.802.235 Regional Disparity Analysis for Iron Status of School-Going Children from Punjab, India Sukhdeep Kaur * , Kiran Bains and Harpreet Kaur Department of Food and Nutrition, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, India (141004) *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Globally, Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) is the most common micronutrient deficiency disorder, mainly affecting preschool children, pregnant women and lactating mothers (Kotecha, 2011). "Anemia" is used for a group of conditions that result from an inability of erythropoietin tissues to maintain a normal hemoglobin (Hb) concentration on International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The aims of this study were to assess regional disparity in anemic status and to identify the sociodemographic factors associated with the prevalence of anemia among school-children from Punjab, India. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 210 children (11-17y) randomly selected from government schools of three regions of Punjab, namely Majha (n=45), Doaba (n=45) and Malwa (n=120). Data on sociodemographic characteristics and dietary intake of children were collected through questionnaire based survey. Information on clinical signs/symptoms of anemia and compliance to iron-folic acid supplementation was obtained. Hemoglobin concentration was estimated by cyanmethaemoglobin method. Data were analyzed by Tukey's post-hoc test and Fisher’s exact test using SPSS version 23.0. Overall, children’s diets were highly inadequate in iron, i.e., less than 43% of the recommended dietary allowances. Clinical examination showed more than half of the subjects exhibiting signs/symptoms of anemia. Compliance to iron-folic acid supplementation was 100% in Majha region subjects, while, it was 93 and 77% in Doaba and Malwa region subjects, respectively. Anemia prevalence was 91, 98 and 100%, among school-children of Majha, Malwa and Doaba region, respectively. Mean hemoglobin level of the subjects from Majha region (10.7g/dl) was statistically significantly (p=0.029) higher than Doaba region (10.4 g/dl) and non-significantly higher than Malwa region subjects (10.4g/dl); however, the age and gender specific mean hemoglobin values of all the subjects was lower than the reference values for their corresponding age groups. In Majha region, caste (p=0.02) and family income (p=0.01) were found significantly associated with anemia. The study finds anemia as a severe public health problem among school-children of Punjab. This paper fulfills an identified need to undertake more studies considering regional variations across the states, in order to obtain a clearer picture on magnitude of the problem, causes and factors associated with anemia. Keywords School Children, Iron Status, Region, Punjab, Anemia Accepted: 15 January 2019 Available Online: 10 February 2019 Article Info