Is mid-upper arm circumference in Dutch children useful in identifying obesity?
Henk Talma1, Paula van Dommelen2, Joachim J Schweizer3
1Department Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health, Child Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Archives of Disease in Childhood
|July 9, 2018
Summary
Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is a reliable indicator for detecting overweight and obesity in children, serving as a practical alternative to body mass index (BMI). This study validates MUAC for assessing childhood obesity and estimating weight accurately.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric endocrinology
- Public health nutrition
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is a potential indicator for overweight and obesity in children.
- Its strong correlation with weight suggests it could be a valid alternative to body mass index (BMI).
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between MUAC and weight in children.
- To compare the diagnostic accuracy of MUAC with BMI, using International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) criteria.
- To propose MUAC standard deviation score (SDS) cut-off values for overweight and obesity.
Main Methods:
- Collected anthropometric data, including MUAC, from 6167 children aged 2-18 years in the Dutch Nationwide Growth Study.
- Compared MUAC with BMI IOTF criteria across sex-specific and age-specific categories (2-5, 6-11, 12-18 years).
- Developed equations to predict weight from MUAC and assessed diagnostic accuracy using area under the curve.
Main Results:
- MUAC demonstrated good to excellent explained variance (R²) for weight prediction (0.88-0.94).
- Diagnostic accuracy showed sensitivity ranging from 51.8% to 95.3% and specificity from 71.4% to 93.8%.
- A high percentage of participants (65.1%-89.0%) were classified consistently by both MUAC and BMI.
Conclusions:
- MUAC is a valid and accurate measure for detecting overweight and obesity in children, comparable to BMI.
- MUAC can be used to accurately predict a child's weight.
- International (IOTF) cut-offs for MUAC SDS should be developed, similar to existing BMI charts.
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