ArticlePLoS currents2013
Which anthropometric indicators identify a pregnant woman as acutely malnourished and predict adverse birth outcomes in the humanitarian context?
Article in PLoS currents, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 139 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
139 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effect of nutrition education and counseling on the nutritional status of pregnant women in Ethiopia, 2025: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Association Between Maternal Undernutrition During Pregnancy and Newborn Low Birth Weight in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain in 25 low- and middle-income countries: An individual-level participant meta-analysis.PLoS medicine · 2023Pooled it
- The health consequences of child marriage: a systematic review of the evidence.BMC public health · 2022Pooled it
- Systematic review of observational studies of the impact of cardiovascular risk factors on preeclampsia in sub-saharan Africa.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of undernutrition on mortality and morbidity among adults living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Pooled it
- Burden and determinants of malnutrition among pregnant women in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Malaria, malnutrition, and birthweight: A meta-analysis using individual participant data.PLoS medicine · 2017Pooled it
- Maternal mid-upper arm circumference to predict small for gestational age: Findings in a Zambian cohort.International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Testing an Incentive-Based and Community Health Worker Package Intervention to Improve Maternal Health and Nutrition Outcomes: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.Maternal and child health journal · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Predictors of postpartum family planning in Rwanda: the influence of male involvement and healthcare experience.BMC women's health · 2021Trial
- Maternal dietary diversity and dietary quality scores in relation to adverse birth outcomes in Tanzanian women.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Determinants of low birth weight in the context of maternal nutrition education in urban informal settlements, Kenya.Journal of developmental origins of health and disease · 2019Trial
- Mid-arm muscle area and anthropometry predict low birth weight and poor pregnancy outcomes in Tanzanian women with HIV.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2018Trial
- Trial of ready-to-use supplemental food and corn-soy blend in pregnant Malawian women with moderate malnutrition: a randomized controlled clinical trial.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2017Trial
- The effect of antenatal common mental disorders on infant birth weight at the Dabat health and demographic surveillance site, Northwest Ethiopia: a community-based cohort study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Beyond malaria prevention: sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine treatment in pregnancy selectively remodels the maternal gut microbiome to increase gestational weight gain and improve birthweight.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
79 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Currently there is no consensus on how to identify pregnant women as acutely malnourished and when to enroll them in nutritional programmes. Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland undertook a literature review with the purpose of determining values of anthropometric indicators for acute malnutrition that are associated with adverse birth outcomes (such as low birth weight (LBW)), pre-term birth and intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR). A literature search in PUBMED was done covering 1 January 1995 to 12 September 2012 with the key terms maternal anthropometry and pregnancy. The review focused on the humanitarian context. Mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) was identified as the preferential indicator of choice because of its relatively strong association with LBW, narrow range of cut-off values, simplicity of measurement (important in humanitarian settings) and it does not require prior knowledge of gestational age. The MUAC values below which most adverse effects were identified were <22 and <23 cm. A conservative cut-off of <23 cm is recommended to include most pregnant women at risk of LBW for their infants in the African and Asian contexts.
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Registered trials
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