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ABSTRACT: Objective
This study aimed to synthesise the existing evidence on the performance of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) to identify children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis.Setting
We searched PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL and Google scholar databases from their inception to December 10, 2021, for relevant studies. There were no restrictions regarding the language of publication. Studies reporting measures for the diagnostic performance of MUAC compared with a reference standard for diagnosing overweight and obesity in children and adolescents aged 2-19 years were included.Participants
A total of 54 381 children and adolescents from twenty-one studies were reviewed; ten studies contributed to meta-analyses.Results
In boys, MUAC showed a pooled AUC of 0·92 (95 % CI 0·89, 0·94), sensitivity of 84·4 (95 % CI 84·6, 90·8) and a specificity of 86·0 (95 % CI 79·2, 90·8), when compared against BMI z-score, defined overweight and obesity. As for girls, MUAC showed a pooled AUC of 0·93 (95 % CI 0·90, 0·95), sensitivity of 86·4 (95 % CI 79·8, 91·0), specificity of 86·6 (95 % CI 82·2, 90·1) when compared against overweight and obesity defined using BMI z-scores.Conclusion
In comparison with BMI, MUAC has an excellent performance to identify overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. However, no sufficient evidence on the performance of MUAC compared with gold standard measures of adiposity. Future research should compare performance of MUAC to the 'golden standard' measure of excess adiposity.
SUBMITTER: Sisay BG
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9991645 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Sisay Binyam Girma BG Hassen Hamid Yimam HY Jima Beshada Rago BR Atlantis Evan E Gebreyesus Seifu Hagos SH
Public health nutrition 20220117 3
<h4>Objective</h4>This study aimed to synthesise the existing evidence on the performance of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) to identify children and adolescents with overweight and obesity.<h4>Design</h4>Systematic review and meta-analysis.<h4>Setting</h4>We searched PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CINAHL and Google scholar databases from their inception to December 10, 2021, for relevant studies. There were no restrictions regarding the language of publication. Stu ...[more]