Comparison of Body Weights Via Visual Estimation, Anthropometric Calculation, and Actual Measured in Critically Ill Patients

Rapid and accurate determination of body weight in adult intensive care patients is very important for both calculating target tidal volume during invasive mechanical ventilation support and dose dependent drug administration. In this patient group, measuring actual body weight with a calibrated scale by standing the patient up is often impossible due to acute illness. Instead, estimated body weight determined by health care personnel or estimated body weights calculated according to anthropometric measurements are used. These calculations have some limitations in showing actual body weight, and there is some controversial information in current literature regarding their validity in critically ill patients. There is newly developed patient transfer scale called Marsden M-999® manufactured by Marsden Weighing Machine Group Ltd, which has the advantage of being used in patients who are unable to stand up, in rapidly and accurately measuring the current body weight in critically ill patients. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of these methods by comparing the body weights calculated by visual estimation and various anthropometric methods in critically ill Turkish patients with the actual weight measured by the mentioned scale.