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A Multicenter Study for Validation of the New Pediatric Advanced Life Support Tape for Indian Children

Vaman Khadilkar1, Shruti Mondkar1, A R Mullai Baalaaji2

  • 1Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Medical Research Institute, Jehangir Hospital, Pune, India.

Indian Pediatrics
|August 10, 2026
PubMed

Insights

A new Pediatric Advanced Life Support (ALS) tape, validated in India, offers accurate weight estimation for critically ill children. This indigenous tool shows good reliability for emergency drug dosing and equipment selection in pediatric intensive care units.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Clinical Measurement
  • Health Informatics

Background:

  • Accurate weight estimation is critical for pediatric emergency care, influencing drug dosages and equipment selection.
  • Existing methods for weight estimation in children can be inaccurate, especially in emergency settings.
  • A novel Pediatric Advanced Life Support (ALS) tape, adapted using Indian growth references, was developed to address this need.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To validate the performance of the new Indianized Pediatric ALS tape in critically ill children across multiple Indian centers.
  • To assess the accuracy, bias, and precision of the ALS tape in estimating weight compared to measured weight.
  • To evaluate the tape's reliability and agreement in diverse pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) settings.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter observational study involving 13 PICUs in India.
  • Children under 12 years had recumbent length measured with the ALS tape for color-band-based weight estimation.
  • Weight was measured using a digital scale; primary outcomes were bias, precision, and accuracy.

Main Results:

  • Analysis of 2253 children showed 79.9% correct color-band concordance.
  • 78.6% of weight estimates were within ±10% and 84.6% within ±15% of measured weight.
  • Mean difference was -0.6 kg; strong interrater reliability (κ=0.84) was observed.

Conclusions:

  • The Indianized Pediatric ALS tape demonstrates acceptable accuracy and minimal bias in critically ill Indian children.
  • It serves as a practical and reasonably accurate indigenous alternative for emergency weight estimation in Indian PICUs.
  • While regional and weight-band variability exists, the tape is a valuable tool for diverse settings.
Abstract

Keywords:
ALS tapePICUPediatric emergencyValidation studyWeight estimation

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