Ross D A, Taylor N, Hayes R, McLean M
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
Int J Epidemiol. 1990 Sep;19(3):636-45. doi: 10.1093/ije/19.3.636.
Data from two surveys in Sudan have been used to examine whether weight-for-height (WFH) and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can be used interchangeably at a population level to define the proportion of children aged one to four years that are malnourished, whether they identify the same individual children as malnourished, and whether the relationship between WFH and MUAC varies with age. A MUAC cut-off of 13.0 cm consistently defined approximately the same proportion of children malnourished as 80% WFH in all seven groups of children examined, even though the proportion of children with less than 80% WFH varied between 8.6% and 30.7%. However, sensitivity/specificity analysis showed that many of the children identified as malnourished by the two indices were not the same individuals. Both the MUAC cut-off defining the same proportion malnourished as 80% WFH, and the sensitivity/specificity values, varied substantially with age. Studies of other populations have revealed both different MUAC cut-offs defining the same proportion of children malnourished as 80% WFH, and different sensitivities and specificities of MUAC relative to WFH. We do not recommend the direct comparison of data from surveys using WFH and those using MUAC.
来自苏丹两项调查的数据被用于检验身高别体重（WFH）和上臂中部周长（MUAC）在人群层面上是否可互换使用，以确定1至4岁儿童中营养不良的比例，它们识别出的营养不良儿童个体是否相同，以及WFH与MUAC之间的关系是否随年龄而变化。在所有七组接受检查的儿童中，13.0厘米的MUAC临界值始终能确定与80% WFH大致相同比例的营养不良儿童，尽管WFH低于80%的儿童比例在8.6%至30.7%之间有所不同。然而，敏感性/特异性分析表明，被这两个指标认定为营养不良的许多儿童并非同一批个体。界定与80% WFH相同比例营养不良儿童的MUAC临界值以及敏感性/特异性值均随年龄大幅变化。对其他人群的研究表明，界定与80% WFH相同比例营养不良儿童的MUAC临界值不同，且MUAC相对于WFH的敏感性和特异性也不同。我们不建议直接比较使用WFH的调查数据和使用MUAC的调查数据。
