Publicação

Laser-Based Length-Measuring Board for the Measurement of Infant Body Length from Outside an Incubator

Detalhes bibliográficos
Resumo:	Introduction: Opening the incubator side wall to insert a non-sterile length-measuring device carries the risk of microbial contamination and thermal instability for preterm infants. To reduce this inconvenience, a laser-based length-measuring board is proposed to measure body length from outside the incubator. Methods: This device has two laser-line-shaped cursors which can be pointed to opposite ends of a segment to be measured. It is attached to the outer side of one of the incubator’s side walls in such a manner as to ensure that its axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the segment. To validate the measurements made with this model, a calibrated caliper consisting of a conventional rigid length-measuring board with a resolution of 0.05 mm was constructed to serve as a reference. Crown–heel length was measured in a sample of 45 infants, including 32 preterm and 13 term infants of corrected gestational age at the time of measurement. Results: Good intra-observer variability was obtained. Near-perfect statistical agreement was found between measurements with both devices, with concordance correlation coefficients of 0.994 (95% CI: 0.990; 0.996) in preterm infants and 0.994 (95% CI: 0.988, 0.998) in infants at term. The clinical relevance of the agreement between measurements was assessed by a Bland–Altman plot, and the difference may reach clinical relevance (up to 1 cm) but without evidence of proportional bias. Conclusion: The proposed validated laser-based length-measuring board offers a suitable alternative to conventional length-measuring boards for contactless measurement of infant body length.
Autores principais:	Pereira-da-Silva, Luís
Outros Autores:	Pereira-da-Silva, Luís; Henriques, Rafael B.; Virella, Daniel; Mascarenhas, Andreia; Papoila, Ana Luísa; Papoila, A.L.; Alves, Marta; Fernandes, Horácio
Assunto:	caliper contactless measurement incubator laser length-measuring board preterm infant Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Ano:	2024
País:	Portugal
Tipo de documento:	artigo
Tipo de acesso:	acesso aberto
Instituição associada:	Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Idioma:	inglês
Origem:	Repositório Institucional da UNL

Descrição
Resumo:	Introduction: Opening the incubator side wall to insert a non-sterile length-measuring device carries the risk of microbial contamination and thermal instability for preterm infants. To reduce this inconvenience, a laser-based length-measuring board is proposed to measure body length from outside the incubator. Methods: This device has two laser-line-shaped cursors which can be pointed to opposite ends of a segment to be measured. It is attached to the outer side of one of the incubator’s side walls in such a manner as to ensure that its axis is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the segment. To validate the measurements made with this model, a calibrated caliper consisting of a conventional rigid length-measuring board with a resolution of 0.05 mm was constructed to serve as a reference. Crown–heel length was measured in a sample of 45 infants, including 32 preterm and 13 term infants of corrected gestational age at the time of measurement. Results: Good intra-observer variability was obtained. Near-perfect statistical agreement was found between measurements with both devices, with concordance correlation coefficients of 0.994 (95% CI: 0.990; 0.996) in preterm infants and 0.994 (95% CI: 0.988, 0.998) in infants at term. The clinical relevance of the agreement between measurements was assessed by a Bland–Altman plot, and the difference may reach clinical relevance (up to 1 cm) but without evidence of proportional bias. Conclusion: The proposed validated laser-based length-measuring board offers a suitable alternative to conventional length-measuring boards for contactless measurement of infant body length.