TY - JOUR
T1 - The performance of mid-upper arm circumference for identifying children and adolescents with overweight and obesity : a systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Sisay, Binyam Girma
AU - Hassen, Hamid Yimam
AU - Jima, Beshada Rago
AU - Atlantis, Evan
AU - Gebreyesus, Seifu Hagos
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - https://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:65355
U2 - 10.1017/S1368980022000143
DO - 10.1017/S1368980022000143
M3 - Article
SN - 1368-9800
VL - 25
SP - 607
EP - 616
JO - Public Health Nutrition
JF - Public Health Nutrition
IS - 3
ER -
