ArticleClinical medicine insights. Pediatrics2021
Anthropometric Criteria for Identifying Infants Under 6 Months of Age at Risk of Morbidity and Mortality: A Systematic Review.
Article in Clinical medicine insights. Pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Pooled it
- Seasonality of underweight among infants 1-11 months old in Niger: an exploratory analysis of data from a cluster-randomised trial.BMJ global health · 2025Trial
- Azithromycin for infants at risk of poor growth and development: A pooled secondary analysis of two randomized controlled trials.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Neonatal anthropometric indicators of infant growth and mortality in Burkina Faso.Public health nutrition · 2024Trial
- Single-dose azithromycin for infant growth in Burkina Faso: Prespecified secondary anthropometric outcomes from a randomized controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2024Trial
- Prevalence, Trends, and Associated Factors of Malnutrition Among Under Six-Month-Old Infants in Bangladesh: A Pooled Analysis of DHS Data (2011-2022).Maternal & child nutrition · 2026Article
- Growth in Children with a Cleft Lip and/or Palate in 8 US Hospitals: A Retrospective Cohort Study.JDR clinical and translational research · 2026Article
- Undernutrition in Infants Aged Under Six Months: A Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study in Two Governorates in Yemen.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Association between mid-upper arm circumference and weight for height with long-term survival in South Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Lwiro cohort.BMC nutrition · 2026Article
- External Validation of Pediatric Pneumonia and Bronchiolitis Risk Scores to Predict Mortality in Children Hospitalized in Kenya: A Retrospective Cohort Study.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Weight-for-age and mid-upper arm circumference versus weight-for-length as severe acute malnutrition indicators: A validation study in under-6-month infants.Bioinformation · 2026Article
- Burden of anthropometric failures and concordance of mid-upper arm circumference with weight for length z score in identifying malnutrition among under 2-year-old children in Southern India.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Primary healthcare readiness for nutritionally at-risk infants aged under 6 months: a facility-based survey in Senegal.International health · 2025Article
- A Dedicated Multidisciplinary Growth and Feeding Clinic for Infants with Cleft Lip and/or Palate Demonstrates Need for Intervention.The Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association · 2025Article
- Malnutrition in infants aged under 6 months: prevalence and anthropometric assessment - analysis of 56 low- and middle-income country DHS datasets.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Article
- The Impact of WHO-2023 Malnutrition Criteria on Caseload of Infants Aged Under Six Months: Secondary Data Analysis.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Characteristics and treatment outcomes of malnutrition among infants aged less than 6 months in North-East Nigeria (2019-2022).Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Mortality risk in infants receiving therapeutic care for malnutrition: A secondary analysis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is increasing global focus on small and nutritionally at-risk infants aged <6 months (<6 m). Current WHO guidelines recommend weight-for-length
methodsWe searched Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Global Health, Cochrane Library and POPLINE for studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries and published between 1990 and October 2020. We included studies reporting anthropometric assessment of nutritional status in infants <6 m and assessed the association with subsequent morbidity or mortality.
resultsA total of 19 studies were included in the final review, covering 20 countries, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa. WLZ had poor reliability and poor prognostic ability to identify infants at risk of death. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and weight-for-age
conclusionEvidence from our review suggests that a change in current practice is necessary. To better identify small and nutritionally at-risk infants <6 m WAZ and/or MUAC rather than WLZ should be used. Future research should explore possible benefits for programme coverage, impact and cost-effectiveness. Research should also examine if context-specific MUAC thresholds are needed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.