The arm circumference and weight in the evaluation of nutritional status in newborns at term

Authors

  • José Aderval Aragão Universidade Federal de Sergipe
  • Carolina Oliva Carvalho Borges Universidade Tiradentes
  • Pâmela Raquel Canêdo Silva Maternidade Nossa Senhora de Lourdes
  • Marina Elizabeth Cavalcanti Sant'Anna Aragão Prefeitura de Aracaju
  • Ivan do Nascimento da Silva Faculdades Integradas Tiradentes
  • Francisco Prado Reis Universidade Tiradentes

Keywords:

Nutritional state, Brachial perimeter, Birth Weight

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate whether the arm circumference can be used as an alternative to infer nutritional status of newborns at term. We performed measurements of arm circumference, weight and height of 200 term newborns in a maternity reference for low-risk pregnancies in the first 48 hours of life. For data analysis, were used the Pearson test and o diagram scatter for the correlation between arm circumference x weight and arm circumference x height and the test "t" student to compare these variables with sex. The arm circumference ranged from 8cm to 14 cm with an average of 11.34 cm. The weight ranged from 4.470 g to 1.910 g with an average of 3.279,07 g and height ranged from 30 to 60 cm with an average of 48.43 cm. When correlated arm circumference and weight the Pearson coefficient was of 0.791, while the arm circumference and height 0.391. There was a statistically significant correlation when the arm circumference is compared to the weight. We suggest the use of this measure anthropometric nutritional assessment of newborns, as an alternative method especially in places with scarce resources. 
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Author Biography

José Aderval Aragão, Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Sou Professor do Departamento de Morfologia da Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS), Mestre em Angiologia e Cirurgia Vascular e Doutor em Ciências pela Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Revisor de diversas Revistas como: Clinics, Knee, JVB, Journal of Morphological Sciences e Online Brazilian Journal of Nursing.

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Published

2013-09-24

How to Cite

Aragão, J. A., Borges, C. O. C., Silva, P. R. C., Aragão, M. E. C. S., Silva, I. do N. da, & Reis, F. P. (2013). The arm circumference and weight in the evaluation of nutritional status in newborns at term. Scientia Plena, 9(9). Retrieved from https://scientiaplena.org.br/sp/article/view/1448

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 9 (2013): September/Setembro 2013

Section

Articles

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