Background: Obesity has become one of the most important health problems worldwide. Body mass index (BMI) is a clinical assessment of overweight and obesity in children, although mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) assessment is more straightforward, especially for parents. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between MUAC and BMI in children aged 6-12 years. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 455 elementary school children aged 6-12, including 278 girls and 177 boys with a mean age of 8. 8 ,1. 8 years selected using the census method. Our researcher was trained for anthropometric data collection. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 25 software using Mann-Whitney, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: The mean age was 9. 19 ,1. 8 years, the mean height was 135 ,12 cm, the mean weight was 31. 85 ,11 kg, the mean MUAC was 21 ,3. 1 cm, and the mean BMI was 17 ,3. 6 kg/m2. There was a signifi, cant correlation between MUAC and BMI in both sexes, but it was stronger in girls than in boys (P-value < 0. 05). The MUAC cutoff,point was 23. 75 cm (77% sensitivity and 80% specifi, city) and 24. 75 cm (93% sensitivity and 88% specifi, city) for overweigh and obesity in girls, respectively. Also, it was 23. 25 cm (88% sensitivity and 83% specifi, city) and 25. 25 cm (87% sensitivity and 90% specifi, city) for overweigh and obesity in boys, respectively. Conclusions: We recommend MUAC as a predictor of early diagnosis of overweight and obesity.

Background: Secular trends in stature, weight and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) of 2397 school children (1268 boys and 1129 girls) of the same age (6.5-11.5 years) and sex in representative samples from primary schools of Shiraz (southern Iran) at an interval of 15 years (1988 vs 2003) are reported.Methods: Cross-sectional weight, height and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) curves were created for both sexes. One sample t-tests were utilized to analyze differences between average height, weight and MUAC of the 1988 and 2003 samples (the values of the previous study treated as constant).Results: Both samples included children of various socio-economic backgrounds for both males and females of each age-class. There are significant positive secular trends in stature, weight and MUAC of children born in the post-war period sampled in 2003. These children are generally taller, heavier, and larger than their peers of 15 years earlier born pre- and during the imposed war period of Iraq against Iran. The 2003 sample shows less growth deficits in relation to the CDC reference data.Conclusion: The positive trend can be explained as the result of economic development and improvement of social and health indicators in Iran in the post-war period.

Background: The timing of maternal weight change in pregnancy may be an important determinant of birth weight. The objective of this study was to measure weight gain patterns from early pregnancy until delivery, and to examine the relationship between prenatal weight gain and low birth weight.Methods: A total of 500 pregnant women within 15-20 days of conception, with confirmed pregnancies and belonging to the middle and high socioeconomic families from Mysore city, India participated in the study. They were followed up for the period of one-week after delivery, and their weight was monitored monthly throughout pregnancy. Results: Pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and obesity in 16.2% of pregnant women were less than 18.5% and 11.4% respectively. Mean total pregnancy weight gain for all women was 8.1±2.9 kg, whereas 85.2% did not meet the international recommendations regarding weight gain for their BMI. The rate of weight gain was highest during the second trimester (3.6±1.4 kg) and the total weight gain was associated with progressively decreasing birth weight. A significant association was found between mid-upper arm circumference and maternal weight at term, and birth weight. Conclusion: According to Institute of Medical Guidelines, low weight gains of the mother during pregnancy and mid upper arm circumference below 19 cm are associated with increasing risk of low birth weight.    

Background: Timely and accurate screening of malnutrition at the community level is essential to identifying malnourished children. The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines classify non-oedematous acute malnutrition among children using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) or weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ). Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was conducted among children aged 6‒60 months. After necessary exclusions, 433 participants were selected using a multi-stage simple random sampling method. Using WHO guidelines for global acute malnutrition (GAM) [WHZ<-2, MUAC<12. 5 cm], the sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), predictive values, likelihood ratios, Youden index, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated for MUAC using WHZ as the criterion. Results: Out of 433 participants, 30% were diagnosed with GAM using WHZ, while 17. 6% were found malnourished using MUAC measurements. As per WHO cut-offs, the Se, Sp, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), Youden index, positive likelihood ratio (LR+), and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of MUAC were 48%, 96%, 83%, 81%, 0. 44, 12, and 0. 54, respectively. The ROC curve displayed an area under the curve of 0. 86 (95% confidence interval=0. 83, 0. 90) for MUAC<12. 5 cm. Bivariate Pearson correlation also demonstrated a positive linear relationship (R2=0. 302) between the WHZ and MUAC variables. Conclusion: Based on the findings, 48% of the children were correctly identified by the MUAC with an 83% probability of GAM (PPV=0. 83). Moreover, there was 96% Sp in non-malnourished children, with only 4% false positives. Therefore, personnel at the grassroots level can use MUAC for timely and accurate screening of children in Anganwadi centers (AWCs) due to its ease of use and simplicity.

Background: Timely and accurate screening of malnutrition at the community level is essential to identifying malnourished children. The World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines classify non-oedematous acute malnutrition among children using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) or weight-for-height Z-score (WHZ). Study Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: This study was conducted among children aged 6‒60 months. After necessary exclusions, 433 participants were selected using a multi-stage simple random sampling method. Using WHO guidelines for global acute malnutrition (GAM) [WHZ<-2, MUAC<12. 5 cm], the sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), predictive values, likelihood ratios, Youden index, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were calculated for MUAC using WHZ as the criterion. Results: Out of 433 participants, 30% were diagnosed with GAM using WHZ, while 17. 6% were found malnourished using MUAC measurements. As per WHO cut-offs, the Se, Sp, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), Youden index, positive likelihood ratio (LR+), and negative likelihood ratio (LR-) of MUAC were 48%, 96%, 83%, 81%, 0. 44, 12, and 0. 54, respectively. The ROC curve displayed an area under the curve of 0. 86 (95% confidence interval=0. 83, 0. 90) for MUAC<12. 5 cm. Bivariate Pearson correlation also demonstrated a positive linear relationship (R2=0. 302) between the WHZ and MUAC variables. Conclusion: Based on the findings, 48% of the children were correctly identified by the MUAC with an 83% probability of GAM (PPV=0. 83). Moreover, there was 96% Sp in non-malnourished children, with only 4% false positives. Therefore, personnel at the grassroots level can use MUAC for timely and accurate screening of children in Anganwadi centers (AWCs) due to its ease of use and simplicity

Background: This study aimed to determine anthropometric indicators associated with dyspnea and spirometric parameters in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional and observational study was carried out on 88 patients with COPD, who were visited in an outpatient respiratory clinic of a university hospital during two months. Patient height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), triceps skinfold thickness (TSFT) and subscapular skinfold thickness (SST) were recorded. Also, data on lung function and dyspnea were collected. The association between anthropometric indices and other parameters was studied. Results: Pearson’ s correlation coefficient showed that forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)% predicted was positively correlated with BMI (R=0. 239, P<0. 05) and MUAC (R=0. 431, P<0. 01). By applying ANOVA, we found that the relationship between FEV1% predicted and BMI (P=0. 007), WC (P=0. 019) and MUAC (P<0. 001) was statistically significant. Chi-square test showed that there was an association between MUAC and dyspnea (P<0. 05). Conclusion: There was a relationship between FEV1% predicted and some anthropometric indices such as BMI, MUAC and WC; also, we found an association between MUAC and dyspnea.

Background and Objectives: Nutritional assessment is an important method in public health for measuring health status of people in community. The aim of this study was to evaluate nutritional status of students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS) using anthropometric indices: Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC) and Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC). Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was done on 694 students of RUMS in 2007. A ppropriate tools were used for measuring weight, height, waist circumference and mid upper arm circumference. Obesity and abdominal obesity were detected based on the scores of BMI and WC. Also malnutrition was defined according to the scores of MUAC. Data were analyzed using t test and Pearson correlation coefficient methods. Results: Results showed that 10.7% (n=74) and 1.4% (n=10) of respondents were overweight and obese, respectively. Seven point eight percent of students (n=54) had abdominal obesity. There was a significant correlation between BMI and WC (r=0.81, p=0.01). Also 13% of the students (90) were underweight. Three point sixteen percent of girls (n=18) and 7.1% of boys (n=90) were malnourished based on MUAC measurement. There was a significant correlation between real BMI and estimated BMI by the MUAC (p=0.001, r=0.84). There was also a correlation between BMI scores and MUAC (r=0.83, p=0.001). Conclusion: Overweight, obesity and under weight due to malnutrition are important health problems among the students of RUMS. It seems that using MUAC can estimate BMI in adults.

Objectives: To evaluate the correlation between indirect anthropometric techniques for estimating body fat mass (BFM) and to examine the relation of age at menarche to IQ and BFM as determined by these parameters.Design: Cross sectional study (in Autumn 2000) correlating measurements of weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Triceps Skin Fold (TSF) thickness, Subscapular Skin Fold (SSSF) thickness and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and their relations to age at menarche.Participants: A total of 578 adolescent girls from ten guidance schools in five educational districts of Mashhad These districts are of various socio-economic and cultural status. Methods: Questionnaires, Interview, Measurement of body indexes, Raven test (Raven matrices for determining IQ) Multiple Regression, Pearson Correlations, Analysis of varieties. Results: Anthropometric Parameters for estimating BFM correlated well to each other. Age at menarche did not correlate with BFM measured by anthropometric parameters when studied at the onset of menarche, but it did well correlate with these indexes if studied any time postmenarche, regardless of the interval between the onset of menarche and the present age (p < 0.001) The correlation was negative. IQ correlated negatively to the age at menarche. Correlation was significant at the 0.001 level (P < 0.001).Conclusion: 1- Anthropometric Parameters are well correlated with each other for estimating body fat content.2- BFM does not trigger puberty onset in healthy girls; and it is not an absolute determinative factor for initiation of menarche, but it can be considered a co-factor for the onset of it.3- Mental development and physical growth are parallel processes, so that a slower mental development would be expected when the physical growth is delayed.

Background: In spite of the decentralization of diagnosis and treatment of severe acute malnutrition from the strictly hospital-based approach for all cases to community-based approach, only about 10%-15% of the estimated 16. 5 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition have access to treatment. The study assessed the use of Family Mid Upper Arm Circumference (Family-MUAC) for screening of acute malnutrition in Somali Region of Ethiopia. Methods: This study used mix of qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to describe the process and outcome of a pilot project using mentor mothers to screen for acute malnutrition among children under five using Family MUAC. This was conducted in 5 districts (woredas) of Somali Region of Ethiopia. Results: Between 73 and 91 percent of the mentor mothers across the five project sites were able to correctly use the MUAC tape immediately after the training. Children correctly diagnosed as severe acute malnutrition (SAM) during the first month of the project by the mentor mothers ranged from 70. 0 % to 83. 8%, but the accuracy of measurement reduced at the end of the 6 months project period to between 59. 8% and 66. 7% across the 5 project woredas (districts). The SAM referrals by mentor mothers contributed between 10% and 36. 2% of all cases of SAM admitted in the project woredas over the 6 months period. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the ability of mentor mothers to use the color coded MUAC tape to detect severe acute malnutrition among children.

The present study was initiated to derive an indirect method for estimating body fat mass (BFM) and to evaluate the correlation between indirect anthropometric techniques for this estimation and to examine the relation of these parameters and of IQ to age of menarche. A total of 578 adolescent girls of ten junior highschools in five educational districts of Mashhad, participated in a cross sectional study during autumn 2000. The data were gathered" through questionnaires, interview, measurement of anthropometric parameters including: weight, height, BMI (Body Mass Index), TSF (Triceps Skin Fold) thickness, SSSF (Sub-Scapular Skin Fold) thickness, MUAC (Middle Upper Arm Circumference), and measurement of IQ by Raven test. We demonstrated that anthropometric parameters for estimating BFM correlated well with each other. Age at menarche did not correlate with BFM measured by anthropometric parameters when studied at the onset of menarche, but it did well correlate negatively with these indices if studied any time postmenarche, regardless of the interval between the onset of menarche and the present age (p<0.001). IQ correlated negatively to the age at menarche (p<0.001). These findings implicate that BFM does not trigger puberty onset in healthy girls, but it does accumulate with a faster rate in the postmenarcheal period so that girls who have an earlier menarche have a higher weight and BMI and greaterskinfold thickness than those who enter the menarcheal stage at a later time, and that mental development and physical growth are parallel processes, so that a slower mental development would be expected when physical growth is delayed.