Anthropometrys promise and pitfalls in the diagnosis of undernutrition among infants

Anthropometry, the rigorous methods used to measure the physical dimensions of the human body, is widely used in medicine and public health to identify and label individuals with suboptimal nutritional status. In paediatrics, anthropometry’s tool set and international standards are widely used throughout resource-constrained areas of the world to identify and label children with malnutrition, which is often given further descriptive labels such as ‘acute’ and ‘chronic’, ‘severe’ and ‘moderate’.

But what is often glossed over is that these various forms of malnutrition are only screened for by anthropometry—these measurements are not the disease in and of itself; they only imply risk, to guide clinical care, to generate advocacy. Anthropometric standards are but a mere proxy for nutritional status, not an end point, as they tell us surprisingly little about what really matters to clinicians and policymakers—optimal child development, which encompasses the physical, cognitive, social, linguistic and emotional development of children...

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