Du Bois Height-Weight Formula. 



53 



25 (1772) 



A modification of the Du Bois height-weight formula for surface 

 areas of newborn infants. 



By HAROLD K. FABER and MARGARET S. MELCHER. 



[From the Subdivision of Pediatrics, Stanford University Medical 

 School, San Francisco, Cat.] 



In 1916 Sawyer, Stone and Du Bois announced a series of 

 measurements by which the surface area of adults and children 

 could be estimated with an average error of 1.3 per cent. In a 

 subsequent paper of the same series (1916) by Du Bois and Du 

 Bois, a new formula based on height and weight alone was pre- 

 sented which was stated to have an error of ± 5 per cent. This 

 formula is as follows: 



A = W A25 X i?= 725 X C, 



or 



log A = log W X 425 + log H X .725 X log C. 



The constant C was found to be 71.84 (log 1.857). 

 It was not known whether the formula held for children under 

 two years. 



Since the first method is based on a separate estimation of 

 the surfaces of the extremities, head and trunk there seems to 

 be no reason why this method should not be applicable at any age. 

 The height-weight formula should however apparently be checked 

 for young infants. 



In a series of 100 newborn babies, none over 12 days old, 

 ranging in weight from 2,140 to 4,520 grams and in height from 

 45.2 to 56.9 cm., the surface area was measured by the Sawyer, 

 Stone and Du Bois method and compared with the results obtained 

 by the height-weight formula of Du Bois and Du Bois. Taking 

 the former as the correct measure, we found that the latter showed 

 a constant deviation below the former which averaged 191 sq. cm. 

 or a mean error of — 8.6 per cent. Correcting the constant, it 

 was found that the surface area could be computed in these infants 

 by the height- weight formula with an average error of ±2.5 per 

 cent. 



