Height Assessment

Excerpt

Anthropometry, or the measurement of body parameters, helps diagnose malnutrition and obesity. It is a vital part of pediatric evaluations as well as the assessment of an adult. Body height is one of the main anthropometric measurements obtained in children. The measured value is compared to a reference population and monitored over time to ensure adequate growth.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have implemented standardized procedures for measuring body height to ensure reliability and accuracy. Additional methods have also been developed to ensure height assessment is obtained in children with physical disabilities, preventing accurate measurement by standard methods.

Height assessment is a noninvasive, readily obtainable measurement that can help identify children at risk of malnutrition or obesity. However, a need for universal and accurate measurement of height remains. A multicenter randomized trial in primary care practices in the United States deemed only 30% of height assessments accurate (within 0.5 cm of the height obtained by a trained anthropometrist). The accuracy rate in inpatient settings is even more dismal.

The stature or height of an individual is an inherent characteristic that has clinical implications in assessing nutritional status, estimating body mass index (BMI), and diagnosing underlying disorders in children and adults. Furthermore, height assessment requires special consideration when evaluating patients with limb and/or spine deformities, trauma, skeletal dysplasia, and hospitalized patients. This article reviews the standardized methods of height assessment, their clinical significance, and implications to help improve the clinical accuracy of this measurement and patient outcomes.