Anthropometric assessment of young children's nutritional status as an indicator of subsequent risk of dying.

Abstract

This paper examines the possibility of screening children of 6–59 months old for subsequent risk of dying by using various cut-off points of weight for age, weight for height, arm-circumference for age, and arm-circumference for height. The study was conducted in Kasongo, the main town of a rural area in Zaire. The risk of dying for Kasongo under-fives was quite uniformly distributed among groups defined by various cut-off points in the distribution of anthropometric parameters. It was not possible to demonstrate differential mortality risks or to identify a threshold level below which the risk would substantially increase. These results are in contrast with similar community-based studies from India and Bangladesh. Possible explanations for this contrast as well as the operational implications of the findings are discussed.