Electronic address: Broselow tape is widely used as a weight-estimation device and drug-dosing guide aid, but concerns about its accuracy and its efficacy have emerged in the last decade. Electronic address: 5 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: 4 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: 3 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: 2 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: 1 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.

1 Division of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa.Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. The Mercy, PAWPER XL-MAC, and PAWPER XL tapes were more accurate than the 2017 Broselow tape and should be used in preference in Ghana and countries with similar population structure. The best weight estimation method overall was the PAWPER XL tape as it also had the least bias and greatest precision. The Mercy, PAWPER XL-MAC, and PAWPER XL tapes had similar performance, but all performed significantly better than the Broselow tape in pairwise comparison. The Broselow tape had the greatest bias and least precision among the 4 methods. The proportion of weight estimates within 10% and 20% of actual weight for Broselow tape were 47.5% and 82.3%, for 2D Mercy tape were 73.1% and 96.3%, for PAWPER XL-MAC were 77.6% and 97.5%, and for PAWPER XL were 81.7% and 96.8%, respectively. Mean percentage error and the Bland-Altman analysis were used to assess bias and precision. Accuracy of the methods was determined by percentage of weight estimated to within 10% and 20% of actual weight. Eight hundred forty children between 2 months and 13 years had their weights estimated by the 2017 Broselow, PAWPER XL, PAWPER XL-MAC, and 2D Mercy tapes. MethodsĪ cross-sectional study was conducted at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in Ghana. This study sought to determine and compare the accuracies of the 2017 Broselow tape, Paediatric Advanced Weight Prediction in the Emergency Room Extra-Long (PAWPER XL) tape, Paediatric Advanced Weight Prediction in the Emergency Room Extra-Long Mid-Arm Circumference (PAWPER XL-MAC) tape, and the 2-dimensional (2D) Mercy tape in Ghanaian children. Length-based methods of weight estimation are more accurate than age-based methods, with the most accurate being the length-based, habitus-modified methods. Quick and accurate estimate of a child’s weight is often required for medical interventions like drug dose calculation when scale measured weights cannot be obtained safely. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s Web site ( Objectives Supplemental digital content is available for this article. He was part of the conception and design of the study, performed the statistical analysis, took part in the write-up, and approved the final manuscript before submission.ĭata availability: The data used for authoring this article are available upon request from the first/corresponding author.Įthical considerations: Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Ethics Review Committee of the TTH (ID: TTHERC/17/01/18/01). Box KS11637, Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa (e-mail: ).ĭisclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Reprints: Samuel Blay Nguah, MD, FWACP, FGCPS, Plot 1&3, Korsah Street, Kokoso P.O. ‡Department of Child Health, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. †Department of Child Health, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale From the ∗Department of Child Health, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi

2017 broselow tape