Abstract

This paper will explore various studies that used ideal body weight (IBW) calculations, focused on the paediatric population. Instead of conducting a systematic search of the literature, a "snowball" approach was adopted. The original interest in this project started with a study conducted by Imber et al. (2019) in which they evaluated tidal volume estimations based on actual body weight (ABW) and two alternative formulations of IBW for 483 paediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) children on conventional mechanical ventilation. References from this article that explained these four different body weight formulas, and references that evaluated the effects of different formulas on patient outcomes or interventions, were chosen. These carefully selected references subsequently led to an increase in the number of studies. The search concluded when the references began to repeat themselves and/or did not give any new relevant information. The primary goal of this paper is to offer an overview of research for a future project, rather than to provide an exhaustive description of studies comparing alternative body weight calculations. We will be identifying the numerous gaps in current practices and will determine which methods have worked best for children of certain genders, age groups, height, etc. Using this data, we will be able to work on a future research project that addresses these gaps and variables, that will be able to produce accurate results and potentially new findings. This project will calculate tidal volumes in mechanically ventilated children based on different weight measurement techniques (actual, ideal body weight [IBW]) using the mL/kg value documented in the patient's medical chart and will assess the level of agreement between these calculated tidal volumes and the set tidal volume. The secondary goal is to investigate which variable(s) influence the amount of agreement between calculated and set tidal volumes.