Arm circumference measurement more reliable to diagnose child with malnutrition

A new research has suggested that measuring a child's upper arm circumference can be a more reliable indicator to diagnose malnutrition in children with diarrhea than measuring weight.

The research conducted by Adam C. Levine, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at Rhode Island Hospital, explained that the traditional measures for determining malnutrition in a child are based on assessing the child's weight directly, but measuring the circumference of the mid-upper arm, is another reliable method.

The study says that this arm circumference measuring method is useful to detect under-nutrition in children especially in resource-limited settings because dehydration from diarrhea does not significantly affect the arm circumference but does affect the child's weight.

Levine said that dehydration lowers a child's weight, so using weight-based assessments in children presenting with diarrhea may be misleading.

Levine concluded that on the basis of his findings even clinicians and community health workers can confidently use the mid-upper arm measurement to guide nutritional supplementation for children with diarrhea.

The research was published in the Journal of Nutrition.