Validation of mid upper arm circumference cut offs to diagnose severe wasting in Indian children.

This study aimed to assess the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and Youden index for mid-upper-arm-circumference cut-off of 115 mm to diagnose severe wasting (as defined by the revised WHO standards) in 346 underweight children aged 6 months to 5 years from an outpatient setting. A cut-off of 115 mm had a better performance (sensitivity 43.2%, specificity 90%, Youden index 0.32) than 110 mm (sensitivity 26.4%, specificity 95.9%, Youden index 0.22) in diagnosing severe wasting. The best performance in terms of a balance between sensitivity and specificity was that of 120 mm (sensitivity 74.4%, specificity 77.8%, Youden index 0.52).