How to identify high radiation burden from computed tomography: an example in obese children

Abstract Background Radiation burden from the use of computed tomography (CT) imaging may not be evenly distributed. We tested whether overweight and obese children receive higher radiation burden from CT imaging. Methods An automated software tool (DoseWizard) assessed patient-level radiation dose from CT and merged results with clinical data from the electronic health record. CT scans of the head, chest, and abdomen/pelvis (A/P) performed at our institution from January 2013 to August 2015 on patients aged Results About 7212 CT scans were included. Overweight/obese patients received similar radiation dose for head CT as compared with normal weight patients (1.51 versus 1.49 mSv, P  = 0.04) but higher radiation dose for chest (1.14 versus 0.81 mSv, P versus 1.43 mSv, P P P Conclusions Overweight and obese children receive higher radiation burden from CT imaging and are one group that deserves consideration of dose monitoring. This software tool can be used to measure changes in radiation exposure and run clinical decision support in future studies targeting high radiation exposure to children.