PD103 - NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS THROUGH BODY MASS INDEX OR ARM CIRCUMFERENCE

PD103

NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS THROUGH BODY MASS INDEX OR ARM CIRCUMFERENCE

B. Sousa^1,2,*, C. Pereira¹, A. Rodrigues¹

¹Nutrition Service - Health Service of Autonomous Region of Madeira, Funchal, ²CBIOS – Universidade Lusófona’s Research Center for Biosciences & Health Technologies, Lisboa, Portugal

Rationale: Determining nutritional status is importante in any population, however, in children and young people it becomes even more crucial, as it is during this phase that rapid growth and development processes occur that can be profoundly influenced by nutritional imbalances, making a correct diagnosis essential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the differences in nutritional status in children and adolescents based on classification according to body mass index (BMI) or arm circumference.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which weight, height, and arm circumference were assessed according to standardized procedures, and BMI was calculated. The classification of nutritional status using BMI was that of the World Health Organization, and the classification of Aydin et al (2023) was used for arm circumference.

Results: The sample analyzed consisted of 809 children and adolescents aged between 6 and 14 years, with a mean age of 10.34 ± 2.47 years, of which 51.79% were female.

The nutritional status assessed through BMI determined that 39.56% of this sample were overweight, of which 14.35% were obese, and 8.53% were underweight. According to the classification using PB, it was found that 9.52% of this sample were overweight, of which 0.62% were obese, and 21.51% were underweight.

Conclusion: It is concluded that the nutritional status varied significantly depending on the classification method used, highlighting the importance of carefully selecting anthropometric indicators and interpreting the results carefully, since different indicators can lead to different diagnoses.

References: - Aydın, K., Dalgıç, B., Kansu, A., Özen, H., Selimoğlu, M. A., Tekgül, H., Ünay, B., & Yüce, A. (2023). The significance of MUAC z-scores in diagnosing pediatric malnutrition: A scoping review with special emphasis on neurologically disabled children. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 11, 1081139. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2023.1081139

Disclosure of Interest: None declared