Table 4. Diagnostic performance of current and identified optimal MUAC cutoffs and evaluated alternative case definitions for moderate wasting.
| Categories | Moderate Wasting | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cutoff (cm) | AUROC (LB-UB) | Sensitivity | Specificity | PPV | NPV | |
| All children | Current (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.586 (0.575–0.597) | 21.71% | 95.47% | 18.94% | 96.16% |
| <14.0 | 0.741 (0.730–0.751) | 79.63% | 68.47% | 10.97% | 98.57% | |
| <13.9 or WAZ <-3 | 0.756 (0.746–0.767) | 81.61% | 69.63% | 11.58% | 98.73% | |
| <12.4 or WAZ <-2 | 0.815 (0.805–0.825) | 83.23% | 79.79% | 16.72% | 98.99% | |
| Age (months) | ||||||
| 6–23 m | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.628 (0.607–0.649) | 37.07% | 88.62% | 16.71% | 95.81% |
| <13.2 | 0.741 (0.723–0.759) | 80.12% | 68.03% | 13.38% | 98.23% | |
| 24–59 | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.556 (0.545–0.567) | 12.87% | 98.26% | 24.32% | 96.28% |
| <14.1 | 0.751 (0.737–0.766) | 75.25% | 75.03% | 11.60% | 98.58% | |
| Sex | ||||||
| Male | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.579 (0.566–0.593) | 19.14% | 96.69% | 23.93% | 95.65% |
| <14.0 | 0.748 (0.734–0.763) | 78.40% | 71.25% | 12.90% | 98.38% | |
| Female | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.597 (0.579–0.614) | 25.17% | 94.17% | 15.61% | 96.71% |
| <13.9 | 0.737 (0.720–0.753) | 80.13% | 67.23% | 9.48% | 98.75% | |
| Weight-for-age z-score (underweight status) | ||||||
| ≤ -3SD (Severe) | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.573 (0.546–0.601) | 33.50% | 81.19% | 51.54% | 67.16% |
| <12.7 | 0.589 (0.558–0.619) | 52.25% | 65.52% | 47.50% | 69.68% | |
| -2SD < z ≤ -3SD (Moderate) | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.539 (0.525–0.554) | 18.49% | 89.39% | 22.28% | 86.96% |
| <13.7 | 0.624 (0.607–0.642) | 73.56% | 51.27% | 19.89% | 92.18% | |
| 2SD < z ≤ -2SD (Normal | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.552 (0.532–0.572) | 13.49% | 96.95% | 5.15% | 98.92% |
| <14.0 | 0.693 (0.665–0.720) | 64.01% | 74.50% | 2.99% | 99.41% | |
| Height-for-age z-score (stunting status) | ||||||
| ≤ -3SD (Severe) | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.623 (0.591–0.655) | 34.68% | 89.88% | 23.33% | 93.94% |
| <13.1 | 0.715 (0.684–0.747) | 69.37% | 73.67% | 18.97% | 96.44% | |
| -2SD < z ≤ -3SD (Moderate) | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.578 (0.558–0.598) | 21.88% | 93.69% | 17.70% | 95.08% |
| <13.8 | 0.726 (0.706–0.746) | 79.57% | 65.68% | 12.58% | 98.11% | |
| 2SD < z ≤ -2SD (Normal) | (≥ 11.5 to <12.5cm) | 0.573 (0.560–0.587) | 17.93% | 96.77% | 17.90% | 96.78% |
| <14.0 | 0.752 (0.737–0.767) | 75.93% | 74.49% | 10.46% | 98.75% | |
Note: AUROC = Area Under the Receiver-Operator Characteristic Curve; LB = Lower bound; UB = Upper bound; PPV = Positive predictive value; NPV = Negative predictive value