Validity of mid upper arm circumference for screening acute undernutrition among preschool children in Shimoga, Karnataka

Introduction: Anthropometry is an accepted and most widely used method for assessing the nutritional status of children. Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) has been recommended to be used as a proxy indicator to screen for acute undernutrition in place of Weight for Height index as it requires no scales, measuring devices or graph plotting. Objective: To study the validity of mid upper arm circumference in detection of acute undernutrition (wasting) among preschool children in the study setting. |Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in the field practice area of PHC Aaynoor, Shimoga District, Karnataka state for a duration of 1 year from January 2013 to December 2013. Cluster sampling technique was used for sample selection and 400 preschool children of either sex in the age group of 1-5 years (12- 59 months) were included in the study. Anthropometric measurements were recorded using standard techniques. Results: The prevalence of both moderate and severe wasting as detected by MUAC was 27 (6.75%) and 3 (0.75%), which is less than half of that detected by WHZ. MUAC had a sensitivity of 23.2% and 14.3% respectively in detection of moderate and severe wasting. It could identify higher number of wasted children among males and among children aged 12 – 23 months. Conclusion: Current MUAC cut offs are inappropriate for detection of wasting among preschool children.