Risk Factors of Mid-upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) Based Child Malnutrition in the Flood-affected Areas of Pakistan: A Cross-sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Low- and middle-income countries are usually at high risk of malnutrition. Not only that but the prevalence of malnutrition is much higher. It is important to evaluate the determinants of malnutrition in flood-affected areas of Pakistan. The present study examined the prevalence and risk factors of MUAC-based child malnutrition in flood-hit regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Multi-stage sampling was employed to select 656 households. Finally, 298 children of 6–59 months were selected. MUAC, an independent anthropometric parameter, was used to investigate the nutritional status of children. An automated logistic regression model was used to identify the risk factors of MUAC-based malnutrition. The prevalence of MUAC-based malnutrition was found 46%, including 40.5% females and 52.1% males. More than 90% of people had improved water quality and soap hand washing facility. Almost 17% of respondents had no toilet facility. Through automated logistic model, child age, maternal age, family size, income level, mother education, water quality, toilet facility were the significant determinants (P < .05) of MUAC-based undernutrition in flood affecting the area. The findings suggest that MUAC-based malnutrition can be minimized in flood-hit areas by targeting the listed risk factors. Community-based awareness programs regarding guidance on nutrition might be a key to reducing malnutrition in the target areas.

KEYWORDS:

• MUAC
• malnutrition
• under-five children
• logistic regression

Acknowledgments

The Authors pay special thanks to the Director Nutrition Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Peshawar, Pakistan, and whole laboratory staff for their technical support.

Disclosure statement

All authors reported no conflict of interest.

Financial Support

This research project was financially supported by the Higher education commission (HEC) of Pakistan. The funder has no role in designing, writing, and publishing of this manuscript.

Authorship

Zafar Mehmood and Ijaz ul Haq conceptualized, designed, and wrote the original draft. Nadar Khan and Muhammad Nadeem Khan collected the data. Nadar Khan and Ejaz Ali Khan contributed to editing and formal analysis. Muhammad Nisar, Muhammad Ijaz Ahmad, and Majid Ali reviewed the article.

Data availability statement

All the data is included in this manuscript.

Ethical Standards Disclosure

This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki, and the ethical committee of the Department of Math’s, Stats & Computer science, the University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan approved all procedures involving research study participants (Approval number=002). Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan.