How well does the Best Guess method predict children's weight in an emergency department in 2018–2019?

Abstract

Objective: For seriously ill children, weight is often required to direct critical interventions. As it is not always feasible to measure weight in emergencies, age-based weight prediction formulae may be used as an alternative. The Best Guess formulae, derived in Australia, have been shown to be among the most accurate age-based methods in Australian children. They were validated in 2010. The present study aims to re-validate the Best Guess formulae and compare their performance to the previous validation cohort. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in the paediatric ED of a community teaching hospital. It included a convenience sample of children aged 1 month to 10 year..