Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Reliability and Repeatability of At-Home Parent-Reported Height and Weight Measurement of Young Children

Sarah Rae1,2, Charles Keown-Stoneman3,4, Eleanor Pullenayegum5

  • 1Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Childhood Obesity (Print)
|August 3, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Parents can reliably measure child height and weight at home. This home-based anthropometry is repeatable and supports accessible growth monitoring in research and clinical settings.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Growth Monitoring
  • Anthropometry

Background:

  • Accurate anthropometric measurements are crucial for pediatric growth monitoring.
  • Limited access to clinical settings can hinder in-person measurements.
  • Home-based measurements offer a potential solution to accessibility issues.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the reliability and repeatability of parent-collected anthropometric measurements (height and weight) at home.
  • To compare home-based parent measurements with those taken by trained researchers in a clinical setting.
  • To evaluate the feasibility of using parent-collected data for research and clinical care.

Main Methods:

  • Thirty children aged 2-5 years from the TARGet Kids! cohort participated.
  • Measurements were taken by parents at home and by a pair of trained researchers in a clinic.
  • Standardized instructions were provided to parents.
  • Technical Error of Measurement (TEM), relative TEM (%TEM), and coefficient of reliability (R) were calculated.

Main Results:

  • Parent-collected measurements demonstrated high reliability and repeatability, especially for weight.
  • Bland-Altman plots indicated slightly higher variation in parent-collected height measurements, but within acceptable clinical limits.
  • The study confirmed the accuracy of home-based measurements compared to researcher-collected data.

Conclusions:

  • Parent-collected anthropometry at home is reliable and repeatable for monitoring child growth.
  • This method enhances accessibility for pediatric research and clinical practice when in-person measurements are not feasible.
  • Home-based measurements can supplement or replace clinical measurements, improving data collection efficiency.

Keywords:
anthropometric measurementchild healthearly childhood obesitygrowth monitoringmeasurement reliabilityparent-reported data

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