Mothers Understand And Can do it - Mid Upper Arm Circumference Screening for Malnutrition Performed by Mothers

Mothers Understand And Can do it - Mid Upper Arm Circumference Screening for Malnutrition Performed by Mothers of Children < 5 Years Old

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01790815

Acronym

MUAC

Enrollment

300

Registered

2013-02-13

Start date

2011-08-31

Completion date

2012-08-31

Last updated

2013-12-10

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Kwashiorkor, Malnutrition, Malnutrition; Degree, Moderate, Marasmus

Keywords

Acute Malnutrition, Mid Upper Arm Circumference, Screening

Brief summary

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE : To determine whether mothers, given minimal group training, are capable of using a MUAC (mid-upper arm circumference) bracelet to screen their children for malnutrition and categorise them into one of three groups : 'red' (SAM ; severe acute malnutrition), 'yellow' (MAM ; moderate acute malnutrition) or 'green' (normal nutritional status) SECONDARY OBJECTIVES : To establish whether there is a difference in the MUAC value if measured on the right arm as opposed to the left, in young children To determine whether there is a difference in the MUAC value if the mid upper arm position is determined visually as opposed to being measured in the 'classical' fashion

Detailed description

Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and its complications are major causes of death in under 5s in the developing world. A simple, reproducible, scalable way to recognise acute malnutrition and target early intervention would be a huge advance. Can mothers with limited training reliably measure and interpret the results of Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC), a measurement performed with a MUAC measuring tape costing $0.06? MUAC contrasts with Z-score (WHZ), which requires both scales and a height gauge, both health worker interventions susceptible to considerable error, sensitive to non-nutritional factors, requiring calculations and growth curves, yet much less accurate in predicting risk of death compared with MUAC.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

6 Months to 59 Months

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* children present in the inpatient malnutrition treatment unit and paediatric service of the Mirriah district hospital aged between 6-59 months old * children aged between 6-59 months old in the two villages where the community phase of the study was conducted

Exclusion criteria

* children receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of Mirriah district hospital * children with bilateral oedema * children whose mothers or fathers refused consent to participate in the study

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
inter and intra observer variability	2 years	Variance in result of screening for malnutrition performed by mothers with minimal training compared to 'gold-standard' fully trained health care workers. Screening will be performed with a MUAC (mid-upper arm circumference) bracelet, results will be expressed by category: SAM (severe acute malnutrition), MAM (moderate acute malnutrition) or 'normal nutritional status

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
inter and intra observer variability	2 years	The difference in millimetres in the MUAC value if measured on the right arm as opposed to the left ('classical method'), in young children

Countries

Niger

Outcome results