Assessment of malnutrition among adolescents: Can BMI be replaced by MUAC

Objectives: To find out the magnitude of malnutrition among the adolescents of an urban slum of Kolkata study population. To compare the middle upper arm circumference (MUAC) with that of body mass index (BMI) for determination of nutritional status of the study population. Materials and Methods: This was a school-based descriptive epidemiological study done among adolescent male students aged 10-19 years in the service area of Urban Health Centre, Chetla. The school is an all boy′s government aided school and all the students reside in the Chetla slum, the largest slum of Kolkata. Anthropometric measurements of the students of one section selected from each class i.e. class V to XII were recorded. Results: Results showed 47.93% of study population as per BMI and 60.30% as per MUAC were malnourished. Evaluation of screening test showed MUAC as a marker was 94.6% sensitive and 71.2% specific. A correlation between measurements of MUAC and BMI was demonstrated (r=0.822; SE=0.035; 95% CI; P=0.000000; r2 =0.74).