High Prevalence of Overweight and Its Association with Mid-Upper Arm Circumference among Female and Male Farmers in Tanzania and Mozambique

Laila Eleraky, Ramula Issa, Sónia Maciel, Hadijah Mbwana, Constance Rybak, Jan Frank and Wolfgang Stuetz
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Laila Eleraky: Department of Food Biofunctionality, Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Ramula Issa: Department of Food Biofunctionality, Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Sónia Maciel: Faculty of Health Sciences, Lúrio University, Nampula 3100, Mozambique
Hadijah Mbwana: Department of Food Technology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro 3006, Tanzania
Constance Rybak: Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
Jan Frank: Department of Food Biofunctionality, Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
Wolfgang Stuetz: Department of Food Biofunctionality, Institute of Nutritional Sciences, University of Hohenheim, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: The increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity may already have reached the farmers in Tanzania and Mozambique. Here, the measurement of the mid-upper-arm-circumference (MUAC) could become a simple and sensitive tool for early detection of at-risk groups of overweight as well as underweight. Body Mass Index (BMI) and MUAC of female and male farmers ( n = 2106) from different regions of Tanzania and the Zambézia province, Mozambique, were analyzed by region, sex, age, and correlates. MUAC cut-offs, calculated via BMI cut-offs (<18.5, ?25, and ?30 kg/m 2 ), and multiple linear regression (MLR), compared to those selected by highest Youden’s index (YI) value, were assessed. The study showed an overall higher prevalence of overweight (19%) than underweight (10%) due to the high number of overweight female farmers (up to 35%) in southern Tanzania. BMI, which was mainly and positively predicted by MUAC, was higher in Tanzania and among female farmers, and decreased significantly from the age of ?65 years. MUAC cut-offs of <24 cm and ?30.5 cm, calculated by MLR, detected 55% of farmers being underweight and 74% being overweight, with a specificity of 96%; the higher cut-off <25 cm and lower cut-off ?29 cm, each selected according to YI, consequently detected more underweight (80%) and overweight farmers (91%), but on the basis of a lower specificity (87–88%). Overweight was evident among female farmers in East Africa. MUAC cut-offs, whether defined via linear regression or Youden’s Index, could prove to be easy-to-use tools for large-scale screenings of both underweight and overweight.

Keywords: overweight; body mass index; mid-upper arm circumference; Tanzania; Mozambique; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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