Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2020, 11, 712-725 https://www.scirp.org/journal/fns ISSN Online: 2157-9458 ISSN Print: 2157-944X DOI: 10.4236/fns.2020.117051 Jul. 22, 2020 712 Food and Nutrition Sciences Assessing Malnutrition in Pregnant Women Using the Dietary Diversity Score and the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference: A Cross-Sectional Study, Zambia Sebean Mayimbo 1 , Clara Maphosa Haruzivishe 2 , Concepta Kwaleyela 3 , Bwembya Phoebe 4 , Ellen Chirwa 5 , Patrick Kaonga 6 , Catherine Ngoma 1 1 Department of Midwifery, Women and Child Health, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 2 Department of Nursing Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe 3 Department of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 4 Department of Community Health, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia 5 Department of Midwifery, Kamuzu College of Nursing, Blantyre, Malawi 6 Department of Internal Medicine, Tropical Gastroenterology and Nutrition Group, University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia Abstract The dietary diversity score (DDS) and the mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) can be used to assess nutritional status. The DDS is a qualitative measure of food consumption reflecting an individual’s access to different food items and therefore a proxy indicator of the nutritional status. The aim of the study was to assess whether the dietary diversity score and MUAC can be used to assess the nutritional status of pregnant women attending antena- tal. A cross-sectional survey was conducted at Chilenje level I Hospital in a township located in Lusaka city, Lusaka province. The study employed quan- titative methods to collect and analyse data on the dietary patterns of indi- viduals in the previous 24 hours before the survey. Health facilities were ran- domly selected and systematic sampling was used to select a sample of 299 pregnant women. An interview schedule was used to collect data. Median and interquartile range were used to compare demographic data. Spearman’s Correlation for two continuous variables was used to establish associations between DDS and the MUAC. The median age was 27 years. About 44% of the women were in the lowest dietary diversity category, indicating inade- quate nutrient intake, 31% in the medium category and 24% in the high in- take. Dietary diversity score was negatively correlated with mid-upper arm cir- cumference (p = 0.1295). However, most of the women in the lower dietary How to cite this paper: Mayimbo, S., Haruzivishe, C.M., Kwaleyela, C., Phoebe, B., Chirwa, E., Kaonga, P. and Ngoma, C. (2020) Assessing Malnutrition in Pregnant Women Using the Dietary Diversity Score and the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference: A Cross-Sectional Study, Zambia. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 11, 712-725. https://doi.org/10.4236/fns.2020.117051 Received: May 30, 2020 Accepted: July 19, 2020 Published: July 22, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access