Parental Estimates of their child's weight: Accurate for resuscitation drug doses

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess parental reliability in esti mating child body weight in emergency situations, when weighing the child i s often impossible. Methods: 312 parents mere asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire that included estimating their child's weight. 233 questionnaires were enrolled in the study and were assessed statistically using Students t test, and ch i(2) and ANOVA tests. Results: 51.5% of parents estimated their child's body weight within +/-5% of the true weight, 73.4% within +/-10%, and 87.5% within +/-20%. A signifi cant difference was found between paternal and maternal estimations, with 5 6% of mothers and only 40.3% of fathers estimating within a 5% range of acc uracy (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Parents, especially mothers, can estimate their child's body w eight within clinically acceptable limits. These estimations can reliably b e used to calculate drug doses in prehospital and emergency department situ ations, when children's weight is not known and cannot be measured.