Socio-economic status and puberty are the main factors determining anaemiain adolescent girls and boys in East Java, Indonesia

Objective: To determine prevalence and contributing factors of anaemia in a dolescents. Design: Cross-sectional study of anaemia prevalence, socio-economic status and puberty. Setting: Schools in East Java, Indonesia. Subjects: Male and female adolescent pupils (age 12 - 15 y; n = 6486). Results: Anaemia prevalence was 25.8% among girls (n = 3486), 24.5% among p re-pubertal boys (n = 821), and 12.1% among pubertal boys (n = 2179). Socio -economic status, indicated by type of school attended, was an important fa ctor determining the risk of anaemia. Girls had a higher risk when they att ended a poor school (OR poorest school, 1.00; other schools, 0.67 - 0.87), had reached puberty (OR, 1.25), had lower retinol intake (OR 1st-4th quarti les-1.00, 0.97, 0.89, 0.77) and higher vitamin A intake from plant sources (OR 1st-4th quartiles-1.00, 1.10, 1.31, 1.04). Boys had a higher risk of an aemia when they attended a poor school (OR poorest school 1.00, other schoo ls 0.54 - 0.63), were younger (OR per year = 0.79), had not yet reached pub erty (OR not yet, 1.00; already, 0.78), were shorter (OR per cm 0.95), had smaller mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) (OR per mm 0.99) and lower retin ol intake (OR 1st-4th quartile 1.00, 0.67, 0.74, 0.68). Conclusions: Anaemia in adolescents should be reported separately for pre-p ubertal and pubertal subjects and for different ages, and the population's socio-economic status should be specified. The results of this Survey call for treatment of anaemia in adolescents. Given Indonesia's current situatio n, micronutrient intake of adolescents should be increased using supplement s for all girls and for pre-pubertal boys. Sponsorship: This survey was funded by USAID through the OMNI project. Descriptors: iron deficiency anaemia; adolescents; socio-economic status, p uberty, Indonesia.