TY - JOUR T1 - Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Tapes and Measurement Discrepancies: Time to Standardize Product Specifications and Reporting JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 1011 LP - 1014 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00273 VL - 9 IS - 4 AU - Ritu Rana AU - Hatty Barthorp AU - Marie McGrath AU - Marko Kerac AU - Mark Myatt Y1 - 2021/12/31 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/9/4/1011.abstract N2 - Key MessagesThere is no standard mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) tape specification. Alerted by programmers in Ethiopia, we found using tapes of varied design results in measurement discrepancies and potential for systematic bias.This impacts case identification and the number of children eligible for treatment. At-risk children may be excluded from receiving the critical treatment they need.While some organizations use corrected tapes to account for design differences, many do not. Tapes used to validate current MUAC thresholds are not reported.We propose practitioners report on tape specifications used and call for global standardization of MUAC tape design and examination of possible implications for current MUAC thresholds.In recent years, community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) has revolutionized the care for children by increasing treatment coverage. Critical to the success of CMAM is early case identification. Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurement is a widely used, practical anthropometric measure used at the community level for the identification and admission of cases to appropriate treatment services. Globally, many organizations and government services use MUAC tapes for early case detection. However, there is no one universal MUAC tape specification, and it has been observed that using different MUAC tapes results in different measurements. In this article, we aim to: (1) present the measurement discrepancies; (2) discuss design specifications and their effect on case identification and admissions; (3) present a call to action to agree on common design specifications and standardized reporting. We hope this article will catalyze discussion and practical actions among nutrition and health stakeholders to ensure we have common MUAC tape design specifications so that all eligible at-risk children will get an equal chance to be identified early for critical treatment. ER -