Correlation between serum zinc level and height of adolescent school girls in a Nigerian community

Abstract

Background: This study aims to asses the nutritional status among adolescent school girls using their serum zinc levels and to correlate it with their height.
Method: This is a cross-sectional study of adolescent girls attending public secondary schools in Oshimili local govt. area of Delta state in Midwestern Nigeria.
Results: The mean serum zinc level of the total population was 13.30mmol/l±5.82. Majority (58.3%) of the girls failed to attain the threshold value of 10.71mmol/l of serum zinc. The mean height of the population was 155.4cm with Standard Deviation Scores (SDS) score of  -0.64±0.48, while the mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 19.1kg/m2 ±2.91 with an SDS score of -0.54±0.47. The mean serum zinc level of urban girls (11.05±4.66ìmol/l) was significantly lower than that of rural girls (15.54±6.31ìmol/l) (p = .009). There was no correlation between the mean serum zinc levels with height SDS (p=0.28) and the BMI SDS (p=0.69).
Conclusion: Majority of the adolescent girls in Oshimili local Government
Area of Delta State Mid western Nigeria have low serum zinc level when compared to threshold value, and there was no correlation of serum zinc with their height SDS or BMI SDS.

Key Words: Adolescent girls, Zinc level, Height, BMI , Correlation.