title: ABase-a tool for the rapid assessment of anthropometric measurements on handheld computers.
abstract: Anthropometry is widely recognized as an important method in the evaluation of dysmorphic children. Nevertheless, it has never gained widespread clinical use. We believe that this has mainly practical reasons: appropriate growth charts are not readily available at the bedside or in clinic and taking multiple measurements and plotting them into corresponding growth charts is a time-consuming task. Here we describe a computer program that overcomes both problems: ABase compares entered anthropometric measurements to a database of age- and sex-matched reference values, calculates the centile rank and displays the result either as text or as a digitized growth chart. The program runs on small handheld computers that can easily be carried around in a shirt pocket.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Andreas.Zankl@hospvd.ch
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zankl
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Molinari
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004867:Equipment Design; D008954:Models, Biological; D012984:Software