Comparison of age-based weight estimation with actual measured weight in children aged one to twelve years in Enugu.

Aims This study was carried out to evaluate the degree of accuracy of age-based weight estimation methods in assessing the weight of the Nigerian child. Method The weights of one thousand, four hundred and fifty-six (1,456) children were measured and compared with the updated Advanced Paediatric Life Support (APLS), Best guess, Nelson and Luscombe & Owen methods. Result The updated APLS, Nelson and Luscombe & Owen methods underestimated the weights in younger children while overestimating in older ones. Best guess overestimated the weights across all ages. The Nelson formula had the best agreement within 10% and 20% of the measured weights among all methods. A linear regression analysis produced an equation for weight estimation: weight (W) = 2.058 Y + 9.925, where W is weight in kilogram and Y is the age in years. Conclusion None of the weight estimation formulae assessed was entirely accurate in our study, though the Nelson method showed superior agreement.