The Accuracy of a Patient’s Weight Estimated by Their Relatives, Is It Gender Dependent?

Abstract

We evaluated the accuracy of patient’s body weight estimated by their relatives, focusing on differences in patients’ and relatives’ gender.

Two hundred and thirty patients scheduled for elective surgery were included in this study. The correlation coefficients（r²）and mean difference ±1.96 standard deviation between estimated and measured body weight were 0.81, -2.3±10.2 kg, 0.94, -0.3±5.5 kg, 0.81, -0.5±6.1 kg, and 0.87, -0.8±6.5 kg in male relatives - male patient, female relatives - male patient, male relatives - female patient, female relatives - female patient respectively.

These data indicate that patient’s weight estimated by their relatives was generally reliable. Body weights estimated by female relatives seem to be more accurate than those by male relatives.