Mother Screening for Relapse Using Mid-upper Arm Circumference Among Children Recovered From Severe Acute Malnutrition

NCT05932992 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 23-38829
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 400
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The investigators propose a pilot randomized controlled trial to train mothers to screen their children post-discharge for relapse based on MUAC criteria to facilitate timely identification and referral to care for children who have relapsed.

Conditions

Severe Acute Malnutrition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Time to detection of relapse

  Time to relapse using a log-rank test with a term for randomized treatment assignment will be used. Relapse will be defined using the Burkina Faso guideline for detecting malnutrition (MUAC \< 11.5 cm and / or weight-for-height Z-scores WHZ \< -3 SD)

  6 months

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Weight for Height Z score (WHZ)

  6 months

• weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ)

  6 months

• height-for-age Z-score (HAZ)

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

Mother screening

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

In this arm, mothers / children dyads will be enrolled. Mothers will be trained to measure mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) on their children weekly for 6 months. All other standard care will be provided.

Other: Mother education on how to perform MUAC assessment

standard of care

NO INTERVENTION

In this arm, mothers / children dyads will be enrolled. No study intervention will be performed. all other standard of care will be provided.

Interventions

Mother education on how to perform MUAC assessment OTHER

Mothers will be trained to perform MUAC weekly on their children

Mother screening

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 6 Months - 59 Months
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Caregiver's aged 18 years old or older or a legal guardian or a relative aged 18 or older
• Child aged 6-59 months
• Child has recovered from an episode of SAM per Burkinabè national guidelines (WHZ ≥
• and/or MUAC ≥ 12.5 cm in the past month
• Family is planning to stay in the study area for 6 months
• Appropriate consent from the caregiver or guardian

You may not qualify if:

• Caregiver age under 18 years old, or legal guardian or relatives under 18 years old
• Child age \< 6 months or \> 59 months
• Twins/multiple births and children with feeding issues
• Did not recover from SAM in the past month
• Family is planning to move out of the study area in the next 6 months
• Caregiver or guardian refuses to provide consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, San Francisco: lead
• Centre de Recherche en Sante de Nouna, Burkina Faso: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Centre de recherche en sante de nouna

Nouna, Burkina Faso

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Bountogo M, Dah C, Ouedraogo M, Zerbo F, Kouanda I, Lebas E, Fetterman I, La Mons J, Burroughs H, Arnold BF, Sie A, Oldenburg CE. Caregiver Screening for Relapse Among Children Recently Recovered From Severe Acute Malnutrition: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial. Matern Child Nutr. 2026 Mar;22(1):e70160. doi: 10.1111/mcn.70160.

  PMID: 41569394 DERIVED

• Dah C, Kimfuema A, Bountogo M, Zerbo F, Ouedraogo M, Kouanda I, Fetterman I, Arnold BF, Lebas E, Sie A, Oldenburg CE. Training caregivers to screen for relapse among children who have recovered from severe acute malnutrition: study protocol for a feasibility trial. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2026 Jan 13. doi: 10.1186/s40814-025-01752-z. Online ahead of print.

  PMID: 41527000 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Severe Acute Malnutrition

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Malnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Study Officials

• Catherine Oldenburg, ScD

  University of California, San Francisco

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Outcomes assessor and investigator will be masked to intervention. In regards to the intervention, participants and care providers won't be masked.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Randomized controlled trial of mothers being trained to measure MUAC vs standard of care to prevent relapse

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 27, 2023
• First Posted: July 6, 2023
• Study Start: December 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: November 30, 2024
• Study Completion: November 30, 2024
• Last Updated: March 25, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-03

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

BU (1)