The use of armspan measurement to assess the nutritional status of adults in four Ethiopian ethnic groups

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the use of armspan as a proxy for height in the assessment of nutritional status using body mass index (BMI) for four ethnic groups in Ethiopia. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Four regions in Ethiopia, namely Oromia, Amhara, Tigre and Somali Region. Subjects: A total of 1706 (884 males and 822 females) Ethiopians aged 18 -50 y from four different ethnic groups. Methods: Anthropometric measurements (weight, height and armspan) were obtained using standard techniques. BMI using height (BMI-ht) and using armspan (BMI-as) were calculated, t-tests were used to compare means, and linear regression to investigate the relationship between BMI-ht and BMI-as. Results: Ethnic and sex differences in the relationship between height and armspan, and their derived variables (BMI-ht and BMI-as), were found. Armspan and height (r ¼ 0.83 -0.9), and BMI-ht and BMI-as (r ¼ 0.89 -0.97), were highly correlated in all ethnic groups. BMI-as cut-offs equivalent to the conventional BMI-ht classification of chronic energy deficiency were similar in the Oromo, Amhara and Tigre, but substantially higher in the Somalis. Conclusion: Armspan can be used as a proxy for height to estimate BMI, but the relationship between the two measures varies considerably with ethnicity and sex. Unless sex-and ethnicity-specific cut-offs are applied, the use of BMI-as using conventional cut-offs will overestimate the prevalence of underweight in these populations.

The relationships between height and arm span, mid-upper arm and waist circumferences and sum of four skinfolds in Ellisras rural children aged 8–18 years

“…Longer mean height than arm span among Ellisras rural children was recorded in present study. Similar results were reported by Lucia et al (6) for the four ethnic groups Oromo, Ambara, Tigre and Somali in Ethiopia. Furthermore, Yabanci et al (10) reported shorter arm span compared with height among Turkish children aged 7-14 years.…”

Body Height and Its Estimation Utilizing Arm Span Measurements in Serbian Adults

“…As it is already mentioned, all of them estimated body height from various anthropometric measurements, but it is important to emphasize that the arm span has been derived the most reliable body indicator for predicting body height of an individual (Mohanty et al; Ter Goon et al). However, it must be underlined that the individual and ethnic variations in respect of body height and its relation with arm span were already observed in European (Reeves et al) and African populations (de Lucia et al, 2002), while Mohanty et al (2001) have stated that the estimating equation varies from race to race, and ethnic group to ethnic group. In Steele and Chenier's study (1990), the arm span was nearly 8.3 cm more than the body height for black population (105.36% body height), whereas for white population this difference was only 3.3 cm (102.04% body height).…”

True height and variability in estimates thereof across race and gender

“…7,18,29,45,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] Findings have described how total arm span overestimates standing height. 7,18,29,45,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67] Before puberty, total arm span is closely correlated with standing height. After the onset of puberty (approximately 15 years), the correlation decreases and gender-related variations widen.…”