Cutoff points of mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) for diagnosis of adolescent obesity: A systematic review with metanalysis and MOSTA tape proposal

Abstract

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to obesity. The initial step to implement preventive and therapeutic measures is the detection of patients affected. In some circumstances, it may be important that the diagnosis is made more quickly, and the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) has been used for this. The present study is a systematic review with meta-analysis seeking aiming to suggest cutoff points and propose a simple tool for screening or rapid diagnosis of adolescent obesity. Studies published between January 1990 and December 2022 on MUAC and obesity in adolescents from 10 to 18 years were researched. PRISMA statement and checklist were followed. Optimal cutoff values and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were estimated using a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy studies, by maximizing the Youden index using the new “diagmeta” package of the R software. PROSPERO Submission number: 387,301. From 92 initially screened, a total of six papers fully met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis, involving 39,149 adolescents from five countries. Using the proposed methodology, simplified cutoff points of MUAC (cm) were obtained for screening adolescents at risk for obesity: 23 for girls and 23.5 for boys (10–14 years); 28.14 for girls and 27.14 for boys (15–20 years). In conclusion, the present study proposes, through a systematic review with meta-analysis, simplified cutoff points of MUAC aiming for obesity screening for adolescents and the creation of a tool called MUAC Obesity Screening Tool for Adolescents (MOSTA tape) aimed at simple use and rapid diagnosis.

Keywords

• Mid-upper arm circumference
• Obesity
• Adolescent
• Anthropometry
• Meta-analysis
• Nutritional status