TY - JOUR
T1 - Is mid-upper arm circumference in Dutch children useful in identifying obesity?
AU - Talma, Henk
AU - van Dommelen, Paula
AU - Schweizer, Joachim J.
AU - Bakker, Boudewijn
AU - Kist-van Holthe, Joana E.
AU - Chinapaw, J. Mai M.
AU - Hirasing, Remy A.
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Background: Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is suggested as being a valid measure in detecting overweight/obesity in children and adolescents, due to the strong relation with weight. We examined this relation and compared MUAC to body mass index (BMI) according to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) in children. Methods: Anthropometric data including MUAC were collected in 2009 by trained healthcare professionals in the context of the fifth Dutch Nationwide Growth Study, in a sample of 6167 children (2891 boys and 3276 girls) aged 2-18 years of Dutch origin. We propose MUAC SDS cut-off values for overweight and obesity, and compared MUAC with BMI IOTF in sex-specific and age-specific categories (2-5, 6-11, 12-18 years). Results: The area under the curve is used as a measure of diagnostic accuracy; the explained variance (R) is good to excellent (0.88-0.94). Sensitivity ranges from 51.8% to 95.3% and specificity from 71.4% to 93.8%. Across age and gender groups, 65.1% to 89.0% participants are classified by both MUAC and BMI as normal weight, overweight or obese. We constructed three equations to predict weight using MUAC, with small differences between observed and predicted weight with an explained variance ranging from 0.88 to 0.94. Conclusions: Compared with BMI, MUAC is a valid measure for detecting overweight and obesity and thus a good alternative for BMI. When weight has to be estimated, it can be accurately predicted using MUAC. Based on our observations, we recommend developing diagrams with international (IOTF) cut-offs for MUAC SDS similar to BMI.
AB - Background: Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is suggested as being a valid measure in detecting overweight/obesity in children and adolescents, due to the strong relation with weight. We examined this relation and compared MUAC to body mass index (BMI) according to the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) in children. Methods: Anthropometric data including MUAC were collected in 2009 by trained healthcare professionals in the context of the fifth Dutch Nationwide Growth Study, in a sample of 6167 children (2891 boys and 3276 girls) aged 2-18 years of Dutch origin. We propose MUAC SDS cut-off values for overweight and obesity, and compared MUAC with BMI IOTF in sex-specific and age-specific categories (2-5, 6-11, 12-18 years). Results: The area under the curve is used as a measure of diagnostic accuracy; the explained variance (R) is good to excellent (0.88-0.94). Sensitivity ranges from 51.8% to 95.3% and specificity from 71.4% to 93.8%. Across age and gender groups, 65.1% to 89.0% participants are classified by both MUAC and BMI as normal weight, overweight or obese. We constructed three equations to predict weight using MUAC, with small differences between observed and predicted weight with an explained variance ranging from 0.88 to 0.94. Conclusions: Compared with BMI, MUAC is a valid measure for detecting overweight and obesity and thus a good alternative for BMI. When weight has to be estimated, it can be accurately predicted using MUAC. Based on our observations, we recommend developing diagrams with international (IOTF) cut-offs for MUAC SDS similar to BMI.
KW - adolescent health
KW - comm child health
KW - epidemiology
KW - health services research
KW - obesity
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85049745186&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29982172
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2017-313528
DO - https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2017-313528
M3 - Article
C2 - 29982172
SN - 0003-9888
VL - 104
SP - 159
EP - 165
JO - Archives of disease in childhood
JF - Archives of disease in childhood
IS - 2
ER -