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 ..