Addition of arm anthropometry to body mass index for age, but not serum albumin, improves the accuracy of the nutritional assessment in severely and moderately malnourished children with cancer.

Arm anthropometry is a more sensitive measure of nutritional status than body mass index for age (BMI) in children with cancer, but the added utility of serum albumin remains uncertain. Concordance was determined among four forms of classifying nutritional status in a cohort of undernourished children with cancer: method 1: BMI-for-age Z score; method 2: method 1 + mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) percentile; method 3: method 2 + triceps skinfold thickness (TSFT) percentile; and method 4: method 3 + serum albumin. Concordance was highest between methods 2 and 3, followed closely by 3 and 4, indicating that addition of arm anthropometry, but not serum albumin, to BMI increased the sensitivity of baseline nutritional assessment.