Reference percentiles for mid-upper arm circumference, upper arm muscle and fat areas in the Argentine child and adolescent population (4-14 years old)

Abstract

Introduction: Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is widely recognized as an adequate indicator of nutritional status. Objective: To estimate the reference percentiles for MUAC, upper arm muscle area (UAMA), and upper arm fat area (UAFA) in the Argentine child and adolescent population using the LMS method (lambda, mu, sigma) Materials and methods: The sample was made up of schoolchildren aged 4.0-13.9 years living in Jujuy, Catamarca, Misiones, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Chubut. MUAC and tricipital skinfold anthropometric measurements were obtained between 2003 and 2008 as per standardized protocols. UAMA and UAFA were calculated, and percentiles by age and sex were estimated and compared using an analysis of variance. Results: A total of 22 736 schoolchildren (11 397 boys and 11 339 girls) were included. The 50 th percentile was higher for the MUAC and UAFA among girls and for the UAMA among boys. The MUAC curves showed sharper increases as of 7 years old in all percentiles among both boys and girls. A similar pattern was observed for the UAMA, with higher values among boys. Lastly, the UAFA showed a constant increase among girls and a stabilization among boys as of 11 years old. Differences for age were observed. Conclusions: The tabulated and plotted percentiles and the MUAC, UAMA, and UAFA may be used as local references for epidemiological and anthropological studies.

Reference percentiles for mid-upper arm circumference, upper arm muscle and fat areas of Nigerian children and adolescent population aged 0 – 19 years

“…Results for UAFA indicate significant difference from age 4.5 years and the sex difference was consistently in favour of girls. Our findings on UAMA and UAFA were in congruent to that of Oyhenart [14]. This is due to sexual dimorphism that exists in body composition with girls having relatively more fat mass and boys more muscle.…”

“…Recently, analysis of MUAC body composition and its derivative outcome indicators; upper arm muscle area (UAMA) and upper arm fat area (UAFA) references have been published [14] among Argentinian children and adolescents, similar to the one earlier published by Frisancho (2008) and Addo et al (2017) of children and adolescents in the US [15,16]. In Nigeria, to our knowledge, no reference values of MUAC, UAMA and UAFA of children and adolescents have been published, thereby underscoring the huge gap in data in the largest black African countries in the world.…”

Mid-upper arm circumference as a screening tool for identifying underweight adolescents

“…Moreover, a significant difference according to sex and age in undernutrition was observed in some studies (24)(25)(26). Hence, no universal agreement on the MUAC cut-off point to screen malnutrition among children and adolescents (27,28). Therefore, adopting local references of MUAC for epidemiological and anthropological studies is recommended (29).…”

“…Therefore, adopting local references of MUAC for epidemiological and anthropological studies is recommended (29). Several previous studies reported that MUAC could be an alternative tool to detect underweight/thinness among adolescents (8,13,21,(27)(28)(29). MAUC is useful in different clinical situations, e.g., in cases of adolescents who have edema (7), chronic disorders and growth failure (9,30,31), cerebral palsy (11) severe learning disabilities (32), and anorexia nervosa (33,34).…”

Bilateral asymmetry in arm anthropometric measurements according to laterality and nutritional status in children and adolescents from 6 to 12 years old

“…Nevertheless, there is no agreement as to which side of the body should be assessed for anthropometric measurements (Madden & Smith, 2016;Moreno et al, 2002), and it is important to have reference values that reflect population variability, whenever possible, especially for nutritional status assessment (Oyhenart et al, 2019).…”