HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bairagi, R Articles by Khan, A D Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Bairagi, R Articles by Khan, A D

Effects of age misstatement on the utility of age-dependent anthropometric indicators of nutritional status in rural Bangladesh.

R Bairagi, B Edmonston and A D Khan

We report the effects of age error on use of weight-for-age and height-for-age for assessing and screening malnutrition, and for identifying factors of malnutrition in 679 children aged 22-59 months in Companiganj, in rural Bangladesh. Overreporting and random error in age and correlation of age error with each of the anthropometric indices are observed. As a result, the proportion of children having less than or equal to 60 per cent of median weight-for-age is overestimated by five percentage points and the proportion having less than 80 per cent of median height-for-age is overestimated by six points. Loss in sensitivity (proportion of malnourished children correctly identified) for the above cutoff points is 20 per cent for weight-for-age and 28 per cent for height-for-age, compared to the situation in the absence of age error. Although mother's education is not a significant determinant of weight-for-age and height-for-age, age error makes mother's education appear artifactually significant in the analysis of variance.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Higgins American Hospitals in the British Health Care Market Med Care Res Rev, March 1, 1990; 47(1): 105 - 130. [PDF]

				L. B. Gardner and R. M. Scheffler Privatization in Health Care: Shifting the Risk Med Care Res Rev, January 1, 1988; 45(2): 215 - 253. [PDF]