The aims of this study were to assess regional disparity in anemic status and to identify the sociodemographic factors associated with the prevalence of anemia among school-children from Punjab, India. A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 210 children (11-17y) randomly selected from government schools of three regions of Punjab, namely Majha (n=45), Doaba (n=45) and Malwa (n=120). Data on sociodemographic characteristics and dietary intake of children were collected through questionnaire based survey. Information on clinical signs/symptoms of anemia and compliance to iron-folic acid supplementation was obtained. Hemoglobin concentration was estimated by cyanmethaemoglobin method. Data were analyzed by Tukey's post-hoc test and Fisher’s exact test using SPSS version . Overall, children’s diets were highly inadequate in iron, ., less than 43% of the recommended dietary allowances. Clinical examination showed more than half of the subjects exhibiting signs/symptoms of anemia. Compliance to iron-folic acid supplementation was 100% in Majha region subjects, while, it was 93 and 77% in Doaba and Malwa region subjects, respectively. | Regional disparity analysis for iron status of school-going children from Punjab, India
