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The problem
Intervention: Comparison of age-adjusted MUAC (MUACZ) and age-specific MUAC thresholds against weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) as diagnostic methods for acute malnutrition
Who it was tested with: 1,408 children under five enrolled in a cluster-randomised controlled trial in two high-wasting regions of Somalia.
Children or communities are compared with a group that did not receive the intervention, or followed over years. This is the design that best separates what the intervention did from everything else that changed.
"This was a secondary analysis of 1408 CU5 enrolled in a cluster-randomised controlled trial in two high-wasting regions of Somalia. This analysis explored wasting prevalences, concordance between indicator pairs, linear regression modelling, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis using WHZ as a reference standard." The study uses rigorous statistical methods comparing diagnostic approaches in a trial population, providing evidence about diagnostic performance though not yet demonstrating improved health outcomes from implementing revised thresholds.
Study conducted in two high-wasting regions of Somalia; findings may not generalise to other contexts. No long-term outcome or mortality data presented to validate clinical benefit of revised thresholds. Secondary analysis limited to data already collected.
Across countries and designs
1 study · 1 country
