Parental weight estimation of their child's weight is more accurate than other weight estimation methods for determining children's weight in an emergency department?

Abstract

Objective: To compare the various paediatric weight estimation methods (Advanced Pediatric Life Support, Broselow Tape, Argall, and Best Guess) and parental estimate to measured weight. Patients and method: A convenience sample of children aged 1-11 years who presented to the emergency department over a 6 month period were eligible for inclusion. Data collected included height, age, ethnicity, parent estimate of weight and measured weight. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. The outcome of interest was agreement between estimated weight and measured weight for each method. Data were analysed by descriptive statistics and performance of each weight estimation method was compared using mean difference (MD), root mean square error (RMSE) and agreement within 10%. Results: 410 cases were included in this study. The median age was 4 years, there were more boys (54.4%), and the majority of cases were of Caucasian ethnicity (74.9%). The mean BMI of the sample was 17 kg/m 2 and mean actual weight was 21.2 kg. Parent estimate was the most accurate method with 78% of parent estimates within 10% of measured weight and the lowest mean difference (20.6 kg) and RMSE (3.1 kg). The Broselow tape was the most accurate of the other methods, with 61% of estimations within 10% of measured weight. Conclusion: Parental estimation of weight is more accurate than the other weight estimation methods studied. When this is not available, the Broselow tape is the most accurate alternative method.

Comparison of weight estimation methods and evaluation of usability of Broselow Luten tape in Turkish children

“…When it was compared with other estimations, parental estimation performed better than Broselow Luten tape in all weight categories. Krieser et al 25 also previosuly reported that parental estimation of the weight was more accurate than Broselow Luten tape. However, Broselow Luten tape performed better than physician and nurse estimates in all weight categories, consistent with the study of Rosenberg et al 8 in which physician estimations was worse than Broselow Luten tape except in obese patients, yet obese patients were not included in our study group.…”

Perceived Barriers To Anthropometric Measurements In Critically Ill Children

“…This finding most likely reflects the lower priority accorded to anthropometric (93) 7 (5) 1 (1) 91 (65) 18 (13) 1 (1) 17 (12) 12 (9) 34 (24) 5 (4) 101 (73) 13 (9) 6 (4) 7 (5) 99 ( (89) 6 (5) 1 (1) 79 (66) 13 (11) 4 (3) 17 (14) 6 (5) 22 (18) 7 (6) 83 (70) 0 (0) 1 (1) 15 (13) 110 ( www.ajcconline.org measurements compared with other time-sensitive and effort-intensive critical interventions necessary to stabilize a child upon admission to the PICU. Reports 4,[11][12][13] indicate that estimates of anthropometric measurements by a patient's parent or caregiver or by PICU staff are erroneous, often by wide margins. Although records from referring hospitals or outpatient clinic visits are an additional source of information, the weight, stature, and head circumference listed in those records may also have been estimates made by a patient's parent or caregiver or by health care providers.…”

“…Weight that is not measured is often determined, with various degrees of accuracy, on the basis of estimates made by the clinical care team or a patient's parents. 4,[11][12][13] Stature and head circumference are often not measured, perhaps because of a perceived lack of importance in the list of priorities during care of a critically ill infant or child. The lack of accurate and consistent anthropometric data can thus pose marked risks to the safe management and recovery of a critically ill child and, in some instances, result in harm.…”

Brief communication (Original). The accuracy of the Broselow tape in the weight estimation of Thai children

“…The patient's weight must then be estimated to calculate medication dosages or other needs. There are a number of methods currently used to estimate a child's weight such as visual assessment, parental estimation [3,4], an age formula [5,6], and lengthbased estimations such as that using the Broselow tape [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”