THE IMPACT OF EDEMA ON ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS IN NUTRITIONAL SURVEYS - A CASE-STUDY FROM ZAIRE
- 1 January 1984
- journal article
- research article
- Vol. 62 (1) , 145-150
Abstract
Six surveys for protein-energy malnutrition were carried out in sequence in Bas-Zaire beginning at the end of 1978 at the estimated height of the famine and continuing throughout the recovery period. Utilizing a stratified multi-stage sampling technique, > 1000 children aged 6 mo. to 6 yr were measured anthropometrically and examined for the presence or absence of bilateral pedal edema in each survey. The proportions of children who were < 80% of the reference median weight-for-height and who had edema decreased, respectively, from 12.8 and 14.4% initially to 2.1 and 1.8% in the final survey. The proportion of edematous children who were not less than 80% of the reference median weight-for-height was high, varying from 71.7 .+-. 7.0% to 94.4 .+-. 10.6%. The importance of these findings for the interpretation of anthropometric data from nutritional surveys in developing countries is discussed.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- Classification and definition of protein-calorie malnutrition.BMJ, 1972
- Recent trends in the public health aspects of protein-calorie malnutrition.1970
- The health of children in Kisarawe District, Tanzania.1969
- A SIMPLE SCORING SYSTEM FOR CLASSIFYING THE SEVERE FORMS OF PROTEIN-CALORIE MALNUTRITION OF EARLY CHILDHOODThe Lancet, 1967