The accuracy of Broselow pediatric emergency tape in estimating body weight of pediatric patients

OBJECTIVES: To determine the accuracy of the Broselow tape on estimating body weights of selected Saudi children. METHODS: This is prospective study of children aged 7 days to 13 years who attended the Emergency Department of King Fahd Hospital of the University, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, from June 2015 to September 2015. Only children <34 kg were enrolled for the study and children with triage categories I and II were eliminated to avoid delay in providing appropriate treatment in these circumstances. RESULTS: The relationship between the actual and tape estimated body weights showed a correlation coefficient of 0.945 (p<0.001) for all children. When adjusting the correlation coefficient related to weight groups, the correlation coefficient was 0.911 (p<0.001) for children with body weights between 10 to 25 kg. CONCLUSION: The Broselow tape measurements do not provide satisfactory results for all children in the selected population, but do provide highly correlated measurements for those children with body weights between 10 and 25 kg.