Can We Measure Height without Standing?

Introduction: Malnutrition is an issue of concern in the elderly population admitted for medical care. In order to prescribe an appropriate diet regime for these individuals, the Body Mass Index has to be ascertained. Many frail elderly are unable to stand to have an accurate measurement of their height. Various formulas have been derived to estimate the height of these recumbent individuals. Studies have shown that the estimation of height using formulas derived from the Western countries led to an over estimation of the actual height of the Asian population. In Malaysia, two formulas were derived in the last decade to estimate the height of individuals using the demispan, knee height and arm span. Objective: To assess accuracy of the estimated height as derived from formulas as compared to that of the actual measured height. Methodology: 53 elderly individuals (above 60 years of age) were selected at random from the inpatient ward and outpatient geriatric clinic. Measurements were taken using the stadiometer and a tape measure was used to measure demispan, arm span and knee height. The estimation of height was done using the formulas below. Results: The results showed that the estimation of height using the 2003 formula by Shahar and Ng showed an insignificant difference using the arm span (p=0.926) and demispan (p=0.714). The estimation using the knee length was significantly different to that measured(p=0.017) and tend to overestimate the height. The use of 2012 (Sakinah and Ngoh) using the demispan also showed a significant difference in the estimation of height to that measured. (p=0.042) Conclusion: The results from our study population showed that the estimation of height using the 2003 (Shahar&Ng) arm span and demispan formulas provided the good estimation of height as to the actual height.

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