Hemoglobin concentration in relation to body mass index among undergraduate medical students - A cross-sectional institutional study

Anemia; Body Mass Index; Medical Students INTRODUCTION Anemia remains one of the major public health challenges with global impacts, especially in developing countries like India. There is a paucity of data correlating hemoglobin with BMI in our context. [...]the present study was done to find out the correlation of hemoglobin level with BMI in undergraduate medical students. The reason for lower hemoglobin concentrations among female students is that there is a lower dietary intake of iron among girls coupled with the menstrual blood loss. [14] Obesity or being overweight on the other hand is a risk factor for many diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnoea, and malignancies; also studies have shown that increase in BMI has an adverse effect on iron status, the effect being