Case Study: Using Mid-Upper Arm Circumference in the Assessment of an Outpatient Pediatric Patient

Elizabeth Spoede, MS, RD, CSP, LD is currently a clinical nutrition specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, where she has worked as a pediatric clinical dietitian for 15 years. As a member of the Academy of Nutrition and the Dietetics’ Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group, Ms. Spoede is the Member Support past chair and served as the Second Century Liaison, and she sits on the Board of Editors for the Practice Group’s Pediatric Nutrition Care Manual. She is also a content expert for the CSP exam through the Commission on Dietetic Registration.

In 2020, Ms. Spoede presented on food insecurity in the pediatric population at the virtual Pediatric Intensive Course in Maternal-Child Health Nutrition through the University of Alabama – Birmingham’s Department of Pediatrics and presented at the Texas Dietetic Internship Preparation Workshop at Texas A&M University. Her recent research has examined a multidisciplinary screening process to reduce mortality in pediatric patients with non-idiopathic scoliosis, food insecurity and pediatric malnutrition in relation to under- and overweight in the United States, pediatric nutrition screening tools, and the impact of scoliosis surgery on pulmonary function in pediatric patients with muscular dystrophy or spinal muscular atrophy. Ms. Spoede has been an editor and author for several editions the Texas Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Nutrition Reference Guide.