The knowledge and attitude towards anaemia amongst adolescent girls

General daily iron requirement expands 2–3 folds during adolescence because of high development spurt and the loss of 12.5–15 mg iron every month during menstruation. Therefore, adolescent girls are vulnerable for iron deficiency anaemia if dietary intake is not sufficient to meet the demands. Thus, the investigators wished to conduct a study to assess the knowledge and attitude towards anaemia amongst adolescent girls in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu. A descriptive research design was used. The population was adolescent girls in the age group of 18 and 19 years, and the sample size was 40. Simple random sampling was used to select the samples. A knowledge and attitude questionnaire developed by the investigators was used to collect data. The study findings showed that the majority of the study participants had a high level of knowledge regarding anaemia 37 (92.5%) and only 3 (7.5%) participants were having a moderate level of knowledge. However, 31 (77.5%) of the study participants expressed moderate level of attitude and none of them had a high level of attitude towards anaemia. All participants (40 [100%]) stated that the inclusion of iron-rich foods in the daily menu is essential to prevent anaemia. Study findings reveal generally good knowledge and moderately acceptable level of attitude.