Simplified MUAC measurement technique - use in surveys?

Buenas tardes. Excelente comentario. En la práctica, cuando se atiende un número grande de pacientes y con grandes distancias que recorrer entre comunidades, realmente debería simplificarse el método, en aras de optimizar el tiempo y ampliar la cobertura. En nuestras actividades de campo, en La Guajira colombiana, hemos observado que no existe diferencia en las mediciones, cuando se determina el punto braquial medio "al ojo" y luego son comparadas con mediciones en las que se utilizó el método tradicional. 

Por otro lado, teniendo en cuenta las fases del proceso de lateralización y las edades a las que estas suceden, considero que no tiene mayor repercusión clínica que se mida, indistintamente, uno u otro  brazo.

Automatic translation: 

Good afternoon. Excellent comment. In practice, when a large number of patients are being seen and with great distances to travel between communities, the method should really be simplified, in order to optimise time and expand coverage. In our field activities, in La Guajira Colombia, we have observed that there is no difference in the measurements, when the mid brachial point is determined "by eye" when compared with measurements in which the traditional method was used.

On the other hand, taking into account the phases of the lateralization process and the ages at which they occur, I consider that it has no great clinical repercussion that one or the other arm is measured interchangeably.

Hi Colleen,

I am not up-to-date with the evidence you mentioned, and I would greatly appreciate it if you could share some links or documents to such evidence.

The only reference I am aware that tried to provide an answer to the question of which side to measure was a chapter by Reynaldo Martorell et al, published as part of the 'Anthropometric Standardization Reference Manual' by Timothy Lohman, first published in 1988. Follow this link for a scanned copy of the chapter.

In that chapter, Reynaldo did find differences between arms, although these were small, with the right arm been bigger. Nonetheless, they concluded that the choice of side matters little because the difference between arms is small when compared to measurement error.

In my opinion, standard procedures help to disentangle signal from noise, and different measurers have different levels of noise and different situations require different clarity of signals. I do not think that one should expect that mothers/caregivers at home undertake MUAC measurements with the same degree of standardisation than community health workers collecting MUAC data for research purposes.

I hope the above is useful.