Estimating the weight of children in Nepal by Broselow, PAWPER XL and Mercy method.

BACKGROUND

Resuscitation of a critically-ill child requires an accurate weight for fluids and medication dosing; however, weighing children on a scale while critically ill is not always practical. The objective of this study is to determine the accuracy of three different weight estimation methods (Broselow, PAWPER XL and Mercy tape) of children presenting to Patan Hospital, Nepal.

METHODS

This was a prospective, cross-sectional study that included children presenting to the emergency department and under-fourteen outpatient clinic at Patan Hospital. Measured weight was compared to estimated weight of Broselow, PAWPER XL, and Mercy tapes. The mean percentage error and percentage of estimated weights that were within 10% (PW10) and 20% (PW20) of actual weight were calculated. Acceptable accuracy was determined as a PW10>70% and PW20>95%. A Bland-Altman analysis was done to determine agreement between each weight estimation method and actual weight.

RESULTS

The study included 813 children. The mean age was 4.2 years (ranging from 4 days to 14 years) with 60% male. The mean percentage error (MPE) for Broselow, PAWPER XL and Mercy were -1.0% (SD 11.8), 0.7% (10.5) and 4.2% (11.9) respectively. The predicted weight within 10% was highest for the PAWPER XL (71.5%) followed by Broselow (63.2%) and Mercy (58.1%). The predicted weight within 20% of actual weight was 95.2%, 91.5% and 91.3% for PAWPER XL, Broselow and Mercy respectively.

CONCLUSION

The PAWPER XL tape was the only method found to be accurate in estimating the weight of Nepalese children.