© 1981 by Oxford University Press
research-article |
The Advantages of Using a Thigh Circumference Tape Analogous to the Shakir Strip for Detection of Malnutrition in Pre-School Children*
Harvard Institute for International Development
Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines
A tape for measuring maximum thigh circumference (TC) of preschool children was created with cut-off points corresponding to those on the Shakir strip,1 for measuring mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). A group of 525 6–48 month-old Filipino children from depressed urban areas were used as the reference population for establishing TC cut-off points and for contrasting the usefullness of the two tapes. Application of the Shakir strip was extended down in age from 12 to six months because it was shown to screen preventively for moderate malnutrition during the second half of the first year when supplementary feeding practices should be taught to the mother.
Use of corresponding markings of either tape for screening purposes was found to select about threefourths of the same children. Of the remaining groups selected by one method and not the other, infants selected by TC were marginally less well nourished in terms of weight for age (wt/age) and had a more equal sex ratio. The ratio of intra- and interobserver error standard deviations to the width of the bands on the tapes were significantly lower for TC than for MUAC. Thus the probability of misclassifying infants should be lower with the use of TC tape than with the use of the Shakir strip.