Anaemia and body mass index (BMI) of fisherwomen inhabiting in Karang island of Loktak Lake, Manipur (India)

Year 2012, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 47 - 53, 10.02.2013

Maishnam Rustam Singh Karnajit Mangang

Abstract

The paper examines the status of anaemia and body mass index (BMI) among fisherwomen of
Karang Island Village, Manipur, India. Altogether 180 Meitei fisherwomen of age group 15 to
49 years were chosen for the study. Two anthropometric measurements viz., stature and body
weight were taken on each subject. For estimation of haemoglobin level two standard methods
namely, haemoglobin colour scale (HCS) and Sahli’s haemoglobinometer were employed.
About 70% of the fisherwomen of Karang village are in normal BMI category, while 16 % of
them are underweight, 11 % overweight and 3 % obese. The prevalence of anaemia is notably
high among the fisherwomen of this village with a frequency of 68.89%. Women with normal
BMI and non-anaemic constitute 24.44%. The mean values of haemoglobin concentration
measured by HCS and Sahli’s method is 10.82gm/dl and 10.94gm/dl respectively. The two
mean values were tested for t-test of significance and found statistically insignificant
(t=0.852). The two adopted methods for haemoglobin estimation viz., HCS and Sahli’s method
are found reliable. The correlation value of BMI and haemoglobin level shows negative in
association (r = 0.060) and the value is found insignificant (t=0.566). The insignificance of
this relationship means there is no correlation.

Keywords

Haemoglobin level, body mass index (BMI), Sahli’s method, haemoglobin colour scale (HCS) method

References

• Bagni UV, Luiz RR, da Veiga GV. (2012) Overweight is associated with low hemoglobin levels in adolescent girls. Obes Res Clin Pract doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2011.12.004