Introduction : Body mass index (BMI) in anthropometry is a well-established indicator to assess the nutritional status. However the use of BMI as an indicator in the field level is limited as it involves multiple instruments. Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) is used in severely malnourished children to identify with morbidity and those at risk of mortality. This study aims to assess the diagnostic accuracy of MUAC for undernutrition among adolescent girls compared with BMI as the gold standard.
Methods : A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adolescent girls aged 10-19 years in Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu. Nutritional status was assessed based on comparison with standard cut-offs for BMI and MUAC. The diagnostic accuracy of MUAC compared with BMI was assessed using the proportion of true positives, false positives, true negatives, and false negatives using a 2 × 2 table. A correlation between BMI and MUAC was also expressed.
RESULTS : MUAC was 79.25% sensitive to detecting undernutrition and has 84.5% specificity to identifying those who were not undernourished. The correlation between BMI and MUAC was found to be 0.88.
CONCLUSION : MUAC can be used in settings where undernutrition prevalence is high.