2.1: Anthropometric Indicators Measurement Guide - Linkages Project

REFERENCES PART 9.
Glossary
Acute undernutrition - Serious and usually
current periods of inadequate food intake.
Age chart - A chart that can be used
quickly to determine a child’s current age
by the month and year the child was born;
a tool used to determine if reported birth
dates match the age of a child given by
parents or estimated from the child’s
appearance. (FAO, 1990)
Anthropometry - The study and
technique of taking body measurements,
especially for use on a comparison or
classification basis.
Arm circumference - A measurement
done on the mid-upper arm; a
measurement used to assess total body
muscle mass and in some circumstances,
protein-energy malnutrition.
Asymmetrical - Being lopsided; not
having a equal correspondence of form
and arrangement of parts on opposite
sides of a boundary; an asymmetrical
distribution would not have two equal
halves on each side of the median.
Bar chart - A chart in which the length
of the bars depends on the number of
cases in that category and the number of
bars depends on the number of
categories.
Batch processing - The processing of data
for a large group of people at one time.
Bias - A consistent, repeated difference of
the sample from the population, in the
same direction; sample values that do not
center on the population values but are
always off in one direction.
Body Mass Index (BMI) - Also known as
“Quetelet’s index”. An index that uses the
variables weight and height to measure
body fat stores, usually in adults rather
than children (weight in kilograms
divided by the square of height in meters).
Case-control study - A study in which
subjects are selected on the basis of
whether they are (cases) or are not
(controls) receiving benefits of a health
and, or nutrition program.
Chi-Squared test - The Chi-Squared Test
of Association looks at the statistical
significance of an association between a
categorical outcome (such as wasted or
not wasted) and a categorical determining
variable (such as diarrhea in the last two
weeks, no diarrhea).
Chronic undernutrition - Extended
periods of inadequate food intake.
Circumference measuring tape
(circumference insertion tape) - A tool
used to assess arm circumference; a
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