Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Aslam, Saima Altaf.
Evaluation of Nutritional Status of Children Using Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC): A Study from Pakistan.
Pak Paed J Jan ;41(3):163-7.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of children aged 2-5 years using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) cut-off values. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 1474 (567 boys and 907 girls) children, aged 2-5 years, was undertaken from Multan, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. The MUAC measurement of each subject was taken using standard technique. Following the World Health Organization (WHO) age and sex-specific cut-off points, nutritional status of children was determined. Results: The mean (± SD) of age and MUAC of the total subjects was 4.15 (± 0.87 years) and 15.07 (± 1.50 cm), respectively. The results showed that the mean MUAC increased with advancement of age in both boys and girls. Boys had a higher mean values than the girls had. Moderate under-nutrition was more prevalent than severe under-nutrition in both sexes. Highest under-nourishment rate was highest at age of 2 years for boys (26.3%) and at 5 years for girls (31.0%). Based on MUAC, the overall (age and sex combined) percentage of under-nourishment was 18.30%, with higher overall percentage in girls (20.4%) than in boys (14.8%). The association between nutritional status with age-groups (2 =66.51, df=3; p-value<0.01) and gender status (2 =7.29, df=1; p-value=0.007) were also statistically significant. Conclusion: The present study, based on MUAC, showed that a considerable number of children was under-nourished. A high rate of being under-nutrition was observed in girls than in boys.

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