Accuracy of visual estimation of body height and weight in supine paediatric patients.
BACKGROUND
When it is impossible to measure the weight and height of paediatric patients, these are usually estimated. We undertook this study to see how accurate these estimates are in practice.


METHODS
Five observers estimated body height and weight, and subsequently calculated body surface area, in 48 paediatric inpatients who were lying on surgical ward trolleys.


RESULTS
Regression analysis of the data revealed that good correlations existed between estimated and actual body size in all the investigators. However, we found large percentage errors in estimation for infants and younger children with small physical size, and a variation in scatter distribution of estimation errors among the five investigators.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest the necessity to titrate drug doses for administration in this small paediatric population.
Department of Anesthesiology, Kobe Children's Hospital, Suma-ku, Japan.
Takanobu
T
Uesugi
Naoko
N
Okada
Keiichi
K
Sakai
Kahoru
K
Nishina
Katsuya
K
Mikawa
Makoto
M
Shiga
D000759:Adjuvants, Anesthesia / Q000008:administration & dosage; D001827:Body Height; D001830:Body Surface Area; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D012044:Regression Analysis; D016683:Supine Position
D000759:Adjuvants, Anesthesia