Haemoglobinopathies - major associating determinants in prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girl students of Assam, India.

Prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girl students of Assam, a north-eastern state of India, was evaluated along with its associating determinants. The present study revealed that anaemia is a major public health problem among adolescent girl students of Assam. The overall prevalence of anaemia among adolescent girl students of Assam is as high as 71.5%. Non-nutritional factors such as infection due to helminths was substantially low (24.71%). Ascaris lumbricoides was the most frequent infection (10.6%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (6.2%), and hookworm infestations (3.9%). Polyparasitic infection (A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and hookworm) was observed in 0.5% of the study subjects. While coinfection due to A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura was 2.3%, A. lumbricoides and hookworm was 1.1% and T. trichiura and hookworm was 0.9%. Serum ferritin level in a subgroup of samples was in the lower normal range. Malaria parasite was not detected in any of the slides. We have observed a gene frequency of 0.188 for βE-globin gene among the adolescent girl students of Assam. The gene frequency for βE-globin gene ranged from 0.071 to 0.266. Statistically significant difference (F=3.471; P=0.001) of mean haemoglobin level was observed in different types of haemoglobin variants. Multiple regression analysis, in a sub-set of samples having information on Hb levels (g/dl), helminthic infestation (A. lumbricoides, T. trichuria and hookworm), haemoglobin type, revealed haemoglobin type (Hb E) was the important determinant of anaemia among adolescent girl students in the present study.