The Role of Upper Arm and Calf Circumferences in Nutrition Assessment for Elderly Patients

Objective To explore the relationship between the upper arm and calf circumferences and other nutrition indices,and the role of the two's circumferences in nutrition assessment for elderly patients.Methods The anthropometric and laboratory data of 300 selected elderly patients were collected.Differences in the nutrition indices of elderly male and female patients were analyzed by means of Independent-Sample t test;Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple stepwise regression were used to analyze the relationship between the circumferences of the upper arm and calf and the other nutritional indices;and ROC curve was used in the analysis of the truncation cut-off point of the upper arm and calf circumferences.Results The difference in the upper arm circumferences between the males and femaleshad no statistical significance while that in calf circumference did.The correlation between the circumferences of the upper arm and calf and other anthropometric indices was significant,while that between the two circumferences and the laboratory indices was low.The diagnostic value of the upper arm circumference for malnutrition was 23.55cm(sensitivity:0.930;specificity: 0.950).The diagnostic value of the calf circumference for malnutrition was 29.60cm for male(sensitivity:0.958;specificity: 0.923),and 27.15cm for female(sensitivity: 0.979;specificity: 0.857).Conclusion The upper arm and calf circumferences are important indices in nutrition assessment andhave ahigh value in malnutrition diagnosis in elderly patients.