Association of BMI (Body Mass Index) to hemoglobin and red blood cell indices among adolescents.

Objectives: Hemoglobin & red blood cell indices (mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, red cell distribution width) among adolescent. Study Design: Cross-Sectional study (Descriptive). Setting: Department of Physiology, Baqai Medical University (BMU) Karachi. Period: 6 months from February to August 2017. Material & Methods: A total of 500 students of MBBS, BDS, DPT with having age ranges from 18-25 years were enrolled in this study. The anthropometric measurement [height (m2) and weight (kg)] was recorded for calculation of the Body Mass Index and Complete blood count i-e Hemoglobin (Hb%), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), Red cell distribution width (RDW) was done and calculated.  Data analysis was done on Microsoft excel & SPSS version 22.0 was used. Results: It was seen that the comparison of Hb%, MCV & RDW had no significant (p>0.001) association of study participants to different categories of Body Mass Index.  Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (X²=28.278, p<0.001) and Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (X²=15.659, p=0.016) were statistically significantly association with different categories of Body Mass Index. Conclusion: Mean corpuscular hemoglobin and Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration had statistically significant (p<0.001) association with body mass index (BMI).