A prospective evaluation of different anthropometric height estimation formula

It is now accepted that protective ventilation with low (6ml/kg of predictive body weight) tidal volume beneficiates to ARDS patient.To determinate predictive body weight, the gender and height of patients have to be known. However, in the ED or in the ICU, patients are often unable to provide their height and tape measurement is usually not valid. The purpose of this study is to evaluate different easy and reproducible anthropometric indicators, which could be correlated to the exact patients9 height. Several indicators have been prospectively evaluated on 60 healthy volunteers and correlated to their real height. Height evaluation formula are based on different simple measurements correlation coefficient (r) was calculated by linear regression as compared to exact measured height. Results: See table 1. Among 16 anthropometric different height estimation formula, ulna9s length and tibia9s length were best correlated with the real volunteers9 height. Discussion: Several simple limb measurements can accurately predict exact patients9 height. These estimations have now to be tested on ICU patients, in order to evaluate their bedside feasibility and usefulness.