Surface area in healthy Nigerian children and adults. A height formula compared with Dubois and other formulae.

The surface area (SA) has been recognised in clinical medicine to be the most scientific parameter in varying posology. Its derivation from height and weight is cumbersome and newer methods of computing SA have been described. 920 Nigerian adults and children were studied. Normal values for each age from the Dubois formula and their 3rd, 10th, 50th and 97th centiles using the Dubois formula for computing surface area are reported. The grand mean of the surface area in Nigerian adults (above the age of 21 years) was found to be 1.60 m2 suggesting a lower value when compared with similar studies in caucasian subjects. This finding is discussed in relation to the universal rule of SA near and away from the equator. A height formula for children aged 2 to 12 years is derived and suggested as an alternative to the older weight and the Dubois formulae.