Mid-upper arm circumference as a substitute of the body mass index for assessment of nutritional status among adult and adolescent females: learning from an impoverished Indian state

• Published in: Public health (London) 2020-02, Vol.179, p.68-75
• Main Authors: Das, A., Saimala, G., Reddy, N., Mishra, P., Giri, R., Kumar, A., Raj, A., Kumar, G., Chaturvedi, S., Babu, S., Srikantiah, S., Mahapatra, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent girls; Adolescents; Adult; Anthropometry; Anthropometry - methods; Arm - anatomy & histology; Arm - physiology; Arm circumference; Asian People - statistics & numerical data; Body mass; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body Weight; Community-based programs; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data analysis; Diet; Female; Humans; India; Learning; Malnutrition; Measurement; Mid-upper arm circumference; Middle Aged; Mothers; Nutritional Status; Obesity; Rural communities; Rural Population; Sampling; Screening; Sensitivity and Specificity; Women; Women's health
• ISSN: 0033-3506; 1476-5616; 1476-5616
• DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2019.09.010

For population-level screening of malnutrition among adults—especially in developing-country settings—the body mass index (BMI) can be impractical because of logistical requirements for weight and height measurement. We analyzed anthropometric data collected from a large-scale nutritional survey on women of rural Bihar to determine the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) cutoffs corresponding to standard BMI cutoffs and the predictive accuracies of the determined cutoffs. It was a cross-sectional study using multistage cluster sampling. The current analysis used anthropometric data from a study on dietary practices of rural women (adolescents, lactating mothers, and women in the interpregnancy period). The MUAC (cm) cutoffs corresponding to four standard BMI (kg/m2) values were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We detected a significant positive correlation between BMI and MUAC (r = 0.81, P 0.6) with their BMI counterparts. The results suggest that the cutoffs based on MUAC—a less resource-intensive measure than BMI—can be used for community-based screening of malnutrition among women of Bihar. •Body mass index (BMI) is a widely used metric for assessing nutritional status among adults.•However, it is difficult to assess in community settings because of logistical and technical challenges.•Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can be used in lieu of BMI.•The present study detected the MUAC values corresponding to the standard BMI cutoff among rural Indian women.