Severe wasting in infants, children or adolescents (Q93378)

For children aged 0 to 5 years (0 to 60 completed months), severe wasting is defined as weight-for-length/height or body mass index (BMI)-for-age less than -3 standard deviations of the median (z-score) of the WHO Child Growth Standards. In the percentile system this corresponds to less than percentile 0.1. For children aged 5 to 19 years (61 to 228 completed months), severe wasting is defined as body mass index (BMI)-for-age less than -3 standard deviations of the median (z-score) of the WHO Growth Reference for School-aged Children and Adolescents. In the percentile system this corresponds to less than percentile 0.1.