Clinical medicine & research
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Observational Study
Mid-Upper-Arm Circumference and Arm-to-Height Ratio to Identify Obesity in School-Age Children.
In resource-poor settings, anthropometric parameters are evaluated as potential alternatives to the body mass index (BMI) for detecting overweight and obesity in children. To this end, the mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) and the mid-upper-arm circumference-to-height ratio (AHtR) were evaluated as proxies to BMI in Thai school-age children. ⋯ MUAC and AHtR were reliable tools to detect overweight and obesity in Thai school-age children. Cut-off points for MUAC were age and gender specific, while AHtR at 0.16 and 0.145 were the optimal values for both genders, independent of age. These anthropometric measurements showed excellent accuracy in predicting overweight and obesity with high specificity and sensitivity.