1Lecturer, College of Nursing, NIMHANS
2Professor, Govt. College of Nursing, Trivandrum
3Professor and HOD, Deptt of Neurology, NIMHANS
4Senior Scentific Officer, Deptt of Biostatistics, NIMHANS, Bangalore
Online published on 11 October, 2012.
Prediction of body weight is many times required for bedridden patients, for calculation of their nutritional requirements and drug calculations. The objective of this study was to check the adequacy of formula suggested in the literature developed from Brazilian population, in the Indian population and if found inadequate, to develop appropriate formula for prediction of weight for the Indian population, based on simple anthropometric measurements.
Healthy human subjects who volunteered to participate in the study were subjected to anthropometry and weight measurement using weighing scale, and methods to estimate weight were developed by multiple linear regression analysis.
The formula for weight prediction developed from Brazilian population was found inadequate to predict the weight in Indian subjects. Fifty persons were evaluated by anthropometry and weight calculation formula was developed. The formula thus developed is weight =(1.196 * arm. circ) + (0.395 * abd.circ) + (0.753 * calf.circ) + (−7.296 * gender) - 21.714.The estimates thus calculated did not differ significantly from actual measurements (p = 0.97).
We suggest that this equation developed from Indian population can be used to estimate the weight of bedridden patients when this parameter cannot be measured using a weighing scale.
Weight Prediction, Immobile Patients, Anthropometry
