Abstract

Background: Measuring height and weight in old age is often difficult due to imbalance or immobility. Measuring weight and height is important in geriatrics for a number of reasons. Study on estimation of weight and height for bedbound elderly are lacking in India.
Objective: To derive equations for weight and height, for elderly from other convenient measurements.
Materials and Methods: This community based cross sectional study is from a rural setting in central Kerala among 64 ambulant elderly. Weight, height, knee height (KH), calf circumference (CC), and mid arm circumference (MAC) were measured by standard techniques. Sum of circumferences (SC) was calculated by adding MAC and CC. Result: Summary (mean, SD) of anthropometric measurements are as follows- body mass index (BMI) (23.01, 3.59), weight(55.19, 10.49), height(154.67, 8.43), MAC(27.08, 3.65), CC(31.14, 3.76), SC(58.22, 6.75), and KH(49.13, 3.08). Weight had significant correlation (p<0.001) with MAC(r=0.708), CC(r=0.759), and SC(r=0.806). Height had significant correlation (p<0.001) with KH(r=0.815). The formula derived were as follows- Weight=2.037(MAC)+0.069, Weight=2.119(CC)-10.798, Weight=1.254(SC)-17.793, and Height=2.229(KH)+45.135. Conclusion: It is possible to derive anthropometric equations since there is good correlation between them. The esti- mates derived in this study were imprecise, but are valuable to plan further studies with larger sample size.