A comparison of mid-upper arm circumference and weight-for-height Z score of world health organization growth standards in detecting moderate and severe acute malnutrition in children aged 6-60 months

Background: World health organization (WHO) had defined severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) by weight for height Z score (WHZ) and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) criteria. Several studies indicate discrepancies in the prevalence of malnutrition on using either WHZ or MUAC. The prevalence of SAM was nearly same when using either criterion and only 40% children showed overlapping by using both the criteria. Present study was taken to identify the overlapping of cases by applying both the WHO criteria in children aged 6-60 months. It also identifies the optimal screening cut off values of MUAC if used as a sole criterion. Method: It was a hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study done on 640 cases who were assessed for MAM /SAM by using anthropometric WHO criteria. Results: From 67 SAM cases who were identified by WHZ, only17 cases had SAM on using MUAC too. The sensitivity of MUAC was 25.4% and specificity of 92.0%. From 94 MAM cases, 19 cases showed overlapping by using both the WHO criteria. At MUAC of <13.5 cm, the sensitivity increased to 86.6% for SAM and 81.6% for MAM cases at the cost of decreased specificity which was at around 36% for both the types of malnutrition. Conclusions: The number of malnourished cases, identified by using either of WHO criteria were nearly same but both these criteria detect different subgroups of malnourished children in most cases. A MUAC of <13.5 cm may be used as a sole-criteria in the community by the health workers to detect acute malnutrition.