Validation of a laser meter as a device for height measurement in adults

Abstract

Introduction: height is the anthropometric measurement used as an indicator of a country's development and its use is common among children and adults for nutritional evaluation in clinical and public health. Objective: to validate a laser meter as anthropometric equipment to obtain height in healthy adults. Methods: experimental design with healthy adults to evaluate the concordance in height measured with different anthropometric equipment and a Kiprim LD50E laser meter in laboratory and open field. To control bias, the following were randomized: selection of individuals, instruments, and place of measurement with two replicates of height measurement per device at each experimental site. Results: 21 adults were evaluated with 420 height replicates. No statistically significant differences were found between the equipment used to measure height, both in the laboratory and in the open field. The analysis of the results by sex, according to anthropometrism, did not show statistically significant differences between them (p=0.078 in women; p= 0.164 in men). For each anthropometric equipment comparison, linear regression models were adjusted, in which in the first evaluation it was found that the intercepts were not statistically significant. Correlation coefficients were very high in all cases (>=0.998) with p-values >0.05. Conclusion: the height obtained with the laser meter showed high and significant statistical agreement with the reference anthropometric equipment and can be used to measure height in the absence of the traditional equipment used in clinics.