Measured and self-reported Body weight and Stature in Emergency Service of a South Brazilian Public Hospital

Objectives: To compare measured and self-reported body weight and stature at the hospital admission in an Emergency Service. Methods: A cross-sectional study including adult patients admitted to the emergency service of a public tertiary hospital of a capital in the South of Brazil. Within the first 48 hours after hospital admission, body weight and stature were asked and measured, and a physical examination was performed in order to check for edema/ascites. Corrected body weight was calculated when the patient presented ascites and/or edema. Data analysis was performed with the SPPS 18.0 software. Results: This study included 477 patients (56.6% of women and 79.4% of white ethinicity) with an average age of 53.87±15.66 years. The average of reported body weight and stature was 73.0±16.8 kg and 164.4±9.5 cm, respectively. The average measured body weight and stature was 73.3±17.37 kg and 160.8±11.3 cm, respectively. We needed to correct the measured weight in 36.42% (n= 173) of the patients due to edema and/or ascites. The average of corrected weight was 72.16±17.24 kg. No significant difference was found between reported and measured body weight (p= 0.098), but there was a significative difference between measured and reported stature (p<0.001). We observed a positive and significant correlation between measured and reported data of body weight (r= 0.971) and stature (r= 0.740). Conclusions: Our results suggest that the anthropometric data reported by the patients could be used in the assessment of the nutritional state and/or in decisions about therapeutic conducts in the Emergency Services.