Anthropometric measurements of an adult

Anthropometry  - measurement of basic physical indicators of a person (body weight, height, chest circumference, abdomen).

Body weight and height are measured (if the patient's condition allows) on admission to the hospital, then every 7 days or more often (as prescribed by the doctor). The data are recorded on a temperature sheet.

Weighing.

Body weight should be known in order to specify the dose of medication (when it is taken depending on body weight), to select an adequate diet, and in some cases to assess the effectiveness of treatment. To compare and change the patient's body weight, weighing should be done under the same conditions: in the morning, on an empty stomach, after emptying the bowel and bladder and wearing the same underwear. Before weighing, it is necessary to check whether the scales are adjusted and properly installed. Weak patients can be placed on a pre-weighed stool for weighing.

Measurement of a person's height is performed using a height gauge. The patient takes off his shoes and stands on the platform with his back to the bar, torso and limbs straightened, heels touching, toes apart. Heels, buttocks, interscapular space and occiput touch the bar, head in the ocular-ear horizontal (external ear canals and eyes at the same level). Having lowered the tablet on the head, look at the scale of numbers at the lower edge of the tablet, which will correspond to the height of the patient's body.

The chest circumference is measured with a soft centimeter tape. It is applied to the chest so that it passes under the lower corners of the shoulder blades at the back and at the level of the IV rib at the front. Measurement is performed in a state of calm breathing, at maximum inhalation and exhalation.

Measurement of the abdominal circumference is performed with a soft centimeter tape, in the morning, on an empty stomach, after emptying the intestines and bladder. The soft centimeter tape is applied circumferentially: in the front - at the level of the umbilicus, in the back - at the level of the III lumbar vertebra.

Anthropometry is an assessment of human physique by measuring a number of parameters. The main parameters are height, body weight and chest circumference. A nurse registers the indicators on the title page of the medical card of an inpatient; when measurements are performed by a ward nurse in a ward, the results of measurements are recorded in a temperature sheet.

Equipment: rostometer, scales, centimeter tape.

Measurement of growth.

1. Raise the height gauge bar and place the patient without shoes on the height gauge pad.
2. Check that the back of the patient's head, spine, shoulder blades, sacrum and heels are firmly aligned with the vertical bar of the height gauge.
3. Check the position of the head: the ear goiter and the outer corner of the eye socket should be on the same horizontal line.
4. Lower the bar of the rostometer to the patient's vertex.
5. determine the patient's height from the bottom edge of the bar on the scale.

Measurement of weight

Weighing patients should preferably be done in the morning on an empty stomach after emptying the bladder and rectum. Weight gain may indicate the increase in edema, decrease - on malnutrition, the severity of the infectious-inflammatory process.

1. Open the shutter of the scales and adjust them: the level of the scale arm, at which all weights are in the "zero position", should coincide with the reference mark - the "spout" of the scales in the right part of the scales.
2. Close the scale gate and ask the patient to stand (without shoes) in the center of the scale platform.
3. Open the shutter and determine the patient's weight by sliding the weights on the two bars of the bar until the bar is flush with the reference mark on the medical scale.
4. Close the bolt.
5. Take a statement.
6. Calculate the body mass index using the following formula:
7. To make a note in the medical history

Chest circumference

This measurement reflects the overall condition of the subcutaneous fat tissue and muscular system.

1. Apply a soft measuring tape as follows: at the back of the torso - at the level of the lower corners of the shoulder blades, at the front - in men at the level of the nipples, in women - at the level of the IV rib above the mammary glands.
2. Take a reading from a centimeter tape, make a note in the medical history.

To determine the proportionality of height and weight and to assess nutritional status, WHO (World Health Organization) nutrition experts recommend the use of the Kettle height-weight index - body mass index (BMI): the ratio of actual body weight (kg) to the square of body length (m²).

With adequate trophic status (eutrophy) in adults, this figure is 20 - 24.9 kg/m².

Higher numbers indicate overweight, lower numbers indicate underweight.

Overweight (high nutrition) is considered if the BMI is 25.0 - 29.9 kg/m²

Degrees of obesity:

• Stage I - BMI from 30 to 34.9 kg/m².
• Stage II - BMI from 35 to 39.9 kg/m².
• Stage III - BMI from 40.0 kg/m²

Undernourished - with a BMI of 18.6 - 19.9 kg/m².

Hypotrophy condition - BMI of 18.5 kg/m² or more.