Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Anemia and Their Associations with Prevalence of Anemia and Height-For-Age Z-Score among Indonesian Adolescent Girls

Background/Aims: Information on roles of knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) towards anemia among adolescent girls' nutritional status are still rare. This study investigated KAPs to understand risk factors of anemia and linear growth failure in adolescent girls. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken, recruiting 335 adolescent girls by cluster random sampling. The KAP questionnaire for anemia was adapted from FAO's 2014 nutritionrelated KAP guidelines. Dietary practices information was obtained from 2-days 24-hour recalls and semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Nine questions on knowledge, three on attitudes, and six on practices were scored to yield overall KAP score. Capillary blood samples were measured for hemoglobin (Hb) concentration using the instrument HemoCue 201. Anthropometric measurements were used to obtain height-for-age zscore (HAZ). Associations between KAP, anemia, and HAZ were analyzed using multivariate-logistic regression. Results: Mean Hb was 119.7 g/L with 45% of the adolescent girls being anemic (Hb