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The relationship between birth weight, and arm and chest circumference in Egypt
I D Diamond1, A M el-Aleem, M Y Ali
1Department of Social Statistics, University of Southampton, UK.
Insights
Chest circumference is a better predictor of infant birth weight than mid-arm circumference. This finding is crucial for identifying low birth weight infants in resource-limited settings lacking reliable scales.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Accurate birth weight measurement is vital for infant health assessment.
- Scales for weighing infants may be unavailable or unreliable in certain regions.
- Simple anthropometric indices offer an alternative for low birth weight infant identification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate mid-arm and chest circumferences as predictors of birth weight.
- To determine the superior anthropometric index for predicting birth weight.
- To identify optimal cut-off points for low birth weight identification using these indices.
Main Methods:
- Data collected from a study conducted in Assiut, Egypt.
- Analysis of mid-arm circumference and chest circumference measurements.
- Comparison of predictive accuracy between the two anthropometric indices.
Main Results:
- Chest circumference demonstrated superior predictive accuracy for birth weight compared to mid-arm circumference.
- Measurement replicability may contribute to chest circumference's better performance.
- Specific cut-off points for identifying low birth weight infants were established.
Conclusions:
- Chest circumference is a more reliable and practical anthropometric predictor of birth weight.
- This index is valuable for low birth weight screening in resource-limited environments.
- The identified cut-off points can aid in early identification and intervention for at-risk infants.
Abstract:
This paper is concerned with the prediction of birth weight using simple anthropometric indices, namely mid-arm and chest circumferences. Such indices are important tools in the identification of low birth weight infants in areas where scales are not widely available or where they are likely to be not robust enough to withstand rough treatment. This paper reports data from a study in Assiut, Egypt. The aim was to identify which of the two indices was the better predictor or whether measurements on both arm and chest circumference were required. The results show that chest circumference is the better predictor of birth weight, partly perhaps because its measurement is more replicable. Cut-off points for the identification of low birth weight infants are then identified.