Browsing by Subject "MUAC"
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Item Embargo Association of Alcohol Use with Risk of Malnutrition Among Injury Patients in Moshi, Tanzania: A Mixed-Method Study(2023) Yuan, YunBackground: Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor for several adverse health effects globally and is associated with a high disease burden of malnutrition in Tanzania. This study aims to: 1) assess the practicality and effectiveness of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) as a feasible bedside measure to detect malnutrition among adult and pediatric patients, 2) evaluate the association between alcohol use and nutritional status among adult injury patients and 3) qualitatively identify social determinants of malnutrition in Tanzania. Methods: This mixed-method study was conducted in Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves and logistic regression were used for quantitative data on alcohol use, body mass index (BMI), MUAC. Thematic approach was used for qualitative data on perspectives on alcohol use and its interactions with malnutrition. Results: MUAC cut-offs were determined at < 25.5 cm (BMI < 16 kg/m2) for severely underweight, < 28 cm (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) for underweight, ≥ 30.5 cm (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) for overweight, ≥ 33 cm (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) for obese. The association between alcohol use and malnutrition (MUAC < 25.5 cm) was statistically significant. Qualitative results helped explain the association between alcohol use and malnutrition. Conclusions: MUAC is an effective tool to detect adult malnutrition to inform clinical practice in Tanzania. Polarizing attitudes towards drinking revealed by qualitative data suggested the need for alcohol awareness campaigns. Food assistance programs are needed to reduce the risk of malnutrition among vulnerable populations.
Item Open Access Mid-upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) and injury characteristics in hospitalized patients in an emergency department of North Tanzania(2021) Ramirez, ThaisBackground: The impact of malnutrition on the outcomes of hospitalized adult patients in resource-limited settings is not fully described. We aimed to report our observation of the comparison made between mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and injury outcomes in adults admitted to the Emergency Department of a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis based on an on-going Trauma registry collected by researchers from the Duke Global Health Institute at Duke University in collaboration with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) from April 2018 until April 2020. Results: Females were significantly more likely to have higher MUAC scores than males (B=1.90; SE=0.49; p-value=0.000). Compared to single patients, those married were more likely to have higher MUAC (B=1.28; SE=0.48; p-value=0.007). Compared to advanced education, patients identified with basic education were less likely to have higher MUAC (B=-1.46; SE=0.42; p-value=0.000). Although glasgow outcome was not significantly associated with MUAC score in our univariate analysis (B=-1.20; SE=1.46; p-value=0.41), in our adjusted model, lower good recovery were less likely to have higher muac scores then other glasgow outcomes (B=-2.02; SE=0.73; p-value=0.000). Conclusions: Undernutrition in hospital patients is often unrecognized and there is a need for simple means of screening to facilitate targeted nutritional intervention. Further research is needed to understand the pathophysiology of malnutrition during acute illness and validate MUAC cut-off points for hospitalized adults.
Item Open Access The Use of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) as a Nutrition Indicator for Adolescents in Tanzania(2018) Lillie, Margaret RoseBackground: While adolescent nutrition has not historically garnered attention in public health programming, assessing adolescent nutrition is necessary in addressing cycles of chronic disease, intergenerational malnutrition, and poor developmental trajectory. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), while mostly used as a tool to screen for undernutrition in children under 5, has the potential to offer a simple, low-resource alternative or supplement to BMI in assessing nutrition in adolescent populations. This study seeks to generate more data on adolescent nutrition in Tanzania, to understand the relationship between BMI and MUAC among adolescents, and to consider current age-specific cutoffs for adolescents.
Methods: This study analyzed anthropometric data from a sample of adolescents in primary school in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. A Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between BMI and MUAC and bivariate analysis was used to explore whether anthropometric categories of height, BMI, and MUAC vary according to pubertal and food security status. Additional post-hoc analysis was conducted to explore stunting among this population.
Results: The majority of adolescents in this population were of normal nutritional status. Thirty-eight percent of males compared to 3% of females were stunted. BMI and MUAC were significantly correlated (r=0.6530, p=0.000), with a
stronger correlation among females (r= 0.7736, p=0.000) than males (r=0.5878, p=0.000) and a stronger correlation among non-stunted (r=0.7797, p=0.000) when stunted individuals were removed from the sample. There was no correlation between BMI and MUAC among individuals categorized at overweight according to BMI (r=0.088, p=0.868). There were no significant differences in age-specific anthropometric categories according to self-reported pubertal status or food-insecurity status.
Conclusion: MUAC is a promising measure to be used for determining undernutrition when BMI calculation is not possible. More research is needed on a more nutritionally diverse population to better understand the relationship between BMI and MUAC in under and overnourished individuals and between stunted and non-stunted individuals. More country level data collection on adolescent nutrition including BMI and MUAC is needed to inform programmatic and policy decisions.