Kaushik Bose

Introduction. Adolescence period requires special supervision as these years link the impact of generational and early childhood factors to adult outcomes. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines 10-19 years as adolescence period, an important stage of growth and development in the lifespan of an individual. The present study assessed nutritional status among adolescents of two villages of Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India.

Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study of 443 (208 boys; 235 girls) rural high school students aged 10–15 years of Ajaya and Deulpota villages, Khejuri- I block, Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India, was undertaken to evaluate their growth pattern and nutritional status. Anthropometric measurements, including height (cm), weight (kg), mid-upper arm circumference (cm), were measured following standard techniques. Stunting, underweight and thinness were used as indicators of nutritional status.

Results. The overall prevalence of stunting, underweight and thinness were 20.32%, 1.81% and 46.95%, respectively. The prevalence of stunting was similar in both sexes (20.67% in boys; 20.0% in girls). The prevalence of thinness was very high among the studied participants (46.63% in boys; 47.23% in girls). According to the WHO classification for assessing severity of malnutrition, the rate of stunting and under-weight were medium and low in both sexes, respectively. However, they had very high prevalence of thinness thus indicating a critical situation of undernutrition.

Conclusion. The nutritional status of these rural school going adolescents was not satisfactory. The existing prevalence of stunting and thinness among the studied population indicates chronic nutritional deficiency while the low prevalence of underweight reflects that the chronic food deprivation they have undergone was during childhood, not in recent period. Follow up studies and intervention of government schemes are required to ameliorate this problem. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Introduction. Rapid life style changes are leading causes of increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks among people in India today. Despite the country’s high ethnic diversity, studies related to physiology and such health risks, particularly among the tribal populations have been limited.

Materials and methods. The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,434 tribal participants belonging to six tribes from the two states of West Bengal and Odisha. The aim of the present study was to understand the relationship of age (in years), sex and raised Body Mass Index (BMI) (kg/m²) with selected CVD risk factors among the six tribes of India.

Results. In the males, raised BMI (kg/m²) was found to influence CVD risks by significantly increasing the blood glucose among the age group (in years) of <40 years (Odds Ratio (OR)= 6.396, p≤ 0.05); isolated systolic hypertension among the age groups <40 years (OR= 2.387, p≤ 0.01) and ≥40 years (OR= 2.123, p≤ 0.05); isolated diastolic hypertension among the age groups <40 years (OR=4.74, p≤0.001) and >40 years (OR= 3.24, p≤ 0.001); hypertensive MAP among the age group <40 years (OR= 5.769, p≤ 0.001) and hypertensive blood pressure among the age groups <40 years (OR= 5.865, p≤ 0.01) and ≥40 years (OR= 3.127, p≤ 0.01).

Conclusion. Among females low BMI (kg/m²) was seen to be linked with higher CVD risk. Influence of BMI (kg/m²), age (in years) and sex on CVD risks can explain the increasing health threat among the tribal populations in India. Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) can be considered to correctly indicate the cardiovascular risks; particularly in case of the younger population. An increasing tendency towards a double burden of disease is evident in the studied populations. © 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.