Anthropometric indicators of malnutrition such as body mass index (BMI) and mid upper arm circumference (
MUAC) were measured to evaluate the nutritional status of COPD patients.
Several studies have shown a strong correlation between
MUAC and BMI in the adult population.
Table 1 shows the mean height, weight, BMI, triceps skin-fold thickness,
MUAC, AMG, and AMA in laborers, and sedentary counterparts.
The incidence of severe wasting Mid Upper Arm Circumference (
MUAC), Weight-for-Height/Length Z-Score, were depicted in Table No.
In most of the cases, 280 (80%) showed
MUAC < 11.5 cm, while most of the control subjects [249 (71.1%)] showed
MUAC > 13.5 cm.
Out of 1,840 children in the baseline survey, 240(13%) were screened and identified as SAM by
MUAC criterion (less than 115mm).
Their mean height (cm) was 103.4 while mean
MUAC (cm) was 15.9.
MUAC of children with ages ranging from 2-5 years was recorded using standard technique after obtaining official approval from Institutional Ethics Committee.
Weight and height were transformed to BMI values by BMI calculator while
MUAC values transformed to nutritional status using Epi-info [14].
Among those who did, the average
MUAC was 29.6 cm for the total study population, whereas 68% had
MUAC between 24.7 and 34.4 cm.