Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2015 Dec;18(17):3244-8.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980015000543. Epub 2015 Mar 11.

Mid upper-arm circumference is an effective tool to identify infants and young children with severe acute malnutrition in India

Victor M Aguayo  1 , Satinder Aneja  2 , Nina Badgaiyan  1 , Karanveer Singh  3
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Mid upper-arm circumference is an effective tool to identify infants and young children with severe acute malnutrition in India

Victor M Aguayo et al. Public Health Nutr. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the appropriateness of current mid upper-arm circumference (MUAC) cut-offs to identify children with severe acute malnutrition in India.

Design: The analysis concerned 6307 children admitted to nutrition rehabilitation centres (2009-2011) where they received therapeutic care as per guidelines by WHO and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

Setting: States of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, India.

Subjects: Children aged 6-59 months with bilateral pitting oedema or weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ)<-3 or MUAC<115 mm at admission.

Results: Children aged 6-23 months represented ~80 % of the admissions. Among them, the proportion with WHZ<-3 was similar to that with MUAC<115 mm (85·7 % v. 81·8 %); the proportion with MUAC<115 mm whose WHZ was <-3 was 82·6 %; and the proportion with WHZ<-3 whose MUAC<115 mm was 78·8 %. MUAC<115 mm was as effective as WHZ<-3 in identifying 6-59-month-old children with medical complications (32·2 % v. 31·6 %, respectively), the most important risk factor of death among oedema-free children. Furthermore, death rates in children with MUAC<115 mm were higher than in children with WHZ<-3 (0·61 % v. 0·58 %, respectively) and 91 % of the deaths among oedema-free children were deaths of children with MUAC<115 mm.

Conclusions: In populations similar to those included in our analysis, MUAC<115 mm appears to be an appropriate criterion to identify children with severe acute malnutrition who are at a greater risk of medical complications and death, particularly among children 6-23 months old.

Keywords: India; Mid upper-arm circumference; Severe acute malnutrition; Severe wasting.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Black RE, Allen LH, Bhutta ZA et al.. (2008) Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences. Lancet 371, 243–260. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization & UNICEF (2009) WHO Child Growth Standards and the Identification of Severe Acute Malnutrition in Infants and Children. A Joint Statement by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund. Geneva: WHO. - PubMed
    1. UNICEF (2009) Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition: A Survival and Development Priority. New York: UNICEF.
    1. International Institute for Population Sciences & Macro International (2007) National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005–2006 . Mumbai: IIPS.
    1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2011) Operational Guidelines on Facility-Based Management of Children with Severe Acute Malnutrition. New Delhi: Government of India.

Publication types

MeSH terms