Using ulna length measure compared to forearm measure, for height estimate of previously healthy children at a pediatric hospital

In aim to facilitate the use of replacement measures of body segments for monitoring the child’s growth, the calculation of medication doses and the organic function rates, this study selected previously healthy children from 5 to incomplete 18 years of age, at a pediatric hospital, and measured their height, ulna’s length and the forearm length. An amount of 120 patients were selected, 61 female and 59 male. From these, 77 declared their color as white, 40 as brown and 3 as black. The respective averages were 9.5 years of age, 135cm in height, 36.2cm in forearm length and 20.9cm in ulna’s length, with a statistically significant difference between the two genders (p<0.05). The ulna’s and the forearm length were reproducible, with low coefficient of variation. There were no statistical significance when evaluated if the replacement measure could underestimate or overestimate the height. At the Wilcoxon test, there were more errors on predicting the height through ulna’s length on females, and more errors through forearm length on males (p<0.05). At Student t-test statistical evaluation, for the whole sample of the study as for the stratified evaluation of each gender and ethnicities, there were no significant statistically difference between the estimated height through the forearm length and the measured height (p=0.28). Tough, the estimated height through the ulna’s length compared with the measured height had a statistical significance difference (p<0.05). That said, we have concluded the estimated height through the forearm length as the better replacement measure for height.