Haque MA, Choudhury N, Farzana FD, Ali M, Raihan MJ, Ahmed SMT, Rahman SS, Siddiqua TJ, Faruque ASG, Ahmed T. Determinants of maternal low mid-upper arm circumference and its association with child nutritional status among poor and very poor households in rural Bangladesh.
Matern Child Nutr 2021;
17:e13217. [PMID:
34018337 PMCID:
PMC8476420 DOI:
10.1111/mcn.13217]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Malnutrition among women is a long-standing public health concern that has significant adverse consequences on the survival and healthy development of children. Maternal mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) could potentially represent a simpler alternative to traditional nutritional indicators. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with low maternal MUAC (as an indicator of being underweight) and address the research question of whether maternal MUAC is significantly associated with children's nutritional status among poor and very poor households in rural Bangladesh. Data on 5,069 households were extracted from the Suchana programme baseline survey, which was carried out in 80 randomly selected unions (the lowest administrative unit of Bangladesh) in Sylhet and Moulvibazar districts between November 2016 and February 2017. The outcome variables were three child nutritional status indicators: wasting, stunting and underweight. Mothers were classified as underweight if their MUAC was less than 23 cm. Separate multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the factors potentially associated with maternal underweight status and explore whether maternal underweight status is significantly associated with children's nutritional status. The prevalence of maternal underweight status was 46.7%, and the prevalence of wasting, stunting and underweight among children under two were 10.5%, 44.4% and 31.9%, respectively. After controlling for various socio-economic and demographic characteristics, maternal MUAC was significantly associated with children's nutritional status in rural Bangladesh.
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