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Measuring Child Length and Height: Assessing the Accuracy of a Portable Infrared‐based Digital Tool
Author(s) -
Baxter JoAnna,
Roth Daniel,
Zlotkin Stanley,
Yin Shi,
Milgram Paul,
Mouzaki Marialena
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.31.3
Subject(s) - gold standard (test) , concordance , intraclass correlation , measure (data warehouse) , anthropometry , standard error , limits of agreement , medicine , statistics , mathematics , computer science , data mining , nuclear medicine , reproducibility
Accurate measurement of growth in infants and children is important, as it reflects a child's nutritional status and overall health. Conventional methods of measuring length and height are challenging due to limited access to appropriate tools, poor tool quality, and lack of child cooperation. Pediatric Platform for Anthropometry (PePA) is a portable, computer‐assisted infrared‐based tool that measures length/height without direct child contact. This study investigated PePA's accuracy by comparing length/height measures to the gold standard (length board or stadiometer). The precision and acceptability of PePA and the gold standard were also assessed. In a preliminary analysis of 316 eligible children (0‐18 years), 278 participants' PePA and gold standard measures met the study criteria for inclusion in the analysis. For 6% of those eligible, no successful PePA measures were obtained. The overall intraclass correlation (ICC) [95% CI] between PePA and the gold standard was 0.9988 [0.9985, 0.9991]. The ICC for length only (n=16) and height only (n=262) was 0.9840 [0.9286, 0.9951] and 0.9981 [0.9976, 0.9985], respectively. The mean (±SD) time to obtain a PePA measure was less than the standard tool (8.4±3.2 versus 14.1±5.3 seconds, respectively; p<0.05). Preliminary results suggest that PePA has a very high concordance with the gold standard and is faster in obtaining a measure. Research support was provided by a Hospital for Sick Children Innovation Grant.