Comparison of weight estimation methods in hospitalized Brazilian children and adolescents

Introduction: in emergencies or in situations involving critically ill patients, an accurate calculation of body weight is essential to ensure adequate medical care. Generally, simple techniques are used to determine weight. Aim: to evaluate the weight estimation methods Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS) Update, Luscombe and Owens, Best Guess, and the Broselow tape, comparing measured weight with the weight estimated by each method in hospitalized Brazilian children and adolescents. Methods: an observational study in which anthropometric data were collected from patients of 0-14 years of age between August 2016 and January 2017. The paired t-test was used to compare the patients' measured weight with their estimated weight. The accuracy of each method was analyzed using Bland-Altman plots and Lin's concordance correlation coefficient. Results: the sample consisted of 446 patients. Most of the patients were male (58.1%), of 1-5 years of age (43%) and well nourished (85%). For those under 12 months of age, the APLS Update and Best Guess methods performed best, with the difference in means of measured weight and estimated weight being 0.4 kg (p = 0.183) and -0.2 kg (p = 0.140), respectively. In the 1-5 years of age group only the APLS Update yielded satisfactory results (0.2 kg; p = 0.200). The best agreement with measured weight, according to the Bland-Altman plots and Lin's coefficient, was found for the Broselow tape (CC = 0.96). Conclusion: of the estimation methods evaluated the Broselow tape was the most accurate one. Further studies are required to adapt this method for use in the Brazilian population, thus ensuring its appropriate application in this country.