ArticleBMC public health2014
The reliability of a newborn foot length measurement tool used by community volunteers to identify low birth weight or premature babies born at home in southern Tanzania.
Article in BMC public health, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of postnatal clinical scoring methods and foot length measurement for estimating gestational age and birthweight of newborns in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Pooled it
- Diagnostic accuracy of neonatal foot length to identify preterm and low birthweight infants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ global health · 2020Pooled it
- Community-based cluster randomized controlled trial: empowering households to identify and provide appropriate care for low-birthweight newborns in Nepal.BMC public health · 2020Trial
- Diagnostic accuracy of newborn foot length measurement in identifying low birth weight and preterm infants in Sidama Region, Ethiopia.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Anthropometric measurements as surrogate for identifying low birth weight: comparison with gold standard of measuring weight among neonates at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Accuracy and utility of newborn foot length screening tools to identify small babies by mothers in Sidama Region, Ethiopia.BMJ paediatrics open · 2025Article
- Identification of anthropometric surrogate measurements and their cut-off points for the detection of low birth weight and premature newborn babies using ROC Analysis.Journal of nutritional science · 2023Article
- The use of newborn foot length to identify low birth weight and preterm babies in Papua New Guinea: A diagnostic accuracy study.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Newborn Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Identifies Low-Birth Weight and Vulnerable Infants: A Secondary Analysis.Current developments in nutrition · 2022Article
- Article
- Anthropometric measures that identify premature and low birth weight newborns in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study with community follow-up.Archives of disease in childhood · 2020Article
- Validation and human factor analysis study of an infant weight estimation device.BMC pediatrics · 2020Article
- Article
- The significance of foot length at the initiation of the Ponseti method: a prospective study.Journal of children's orthopaedics · 2019Article
- An anthropometric survey of US pre-term and full-term neonates.Annals of human biology · 2017Article
- Persisting demand and supply gap for maternal and newborn care in eastern Uganda: a mixed-method cross-sectional study.Reproductive health · 2017Article
- Action-oriented colour-coded foot length calliper for primary healthcare workers as a proxy for birth weight & gestational period.The Indian journal of medical research · 2017Article
- A Weight Estimation Strategy for Preterm and Full-Term Infants.Global pediatric health · 2017Article
- Observational
- Kangaroo mother care: a multi-country analysis of health system bottlenecks and potential solutions.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2015Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLow birthweight babies need extra care, and families need to know whether their newborn is low birthweight in settings where many births are at home and weighing scales are largely absent. In the context of a trial to improve newborn health in southern Tanzania, a counselling card was developed that incorporated a newborn foot length measurement tool to screen newborns for low birth weight and prematurity. This was used by community volunteers at home visits and shows a scale picture of a newborn foot with markers for a 'short foot' (<8 cm). The tool built on previous hospital based research that found newborn foot length <8 cm to have sensitivity and specificity to identify low birthweight (<2500 g) of 87% and 60% respectively.
methodsReliability of the tool used by community volunteers to identify newborns with short feet was tested. Between July-December 2010 a researcher accompanied volunteers to the homes of babies younger than seven days and conducted paired measures of newborn foot length using the counselling card tool and using a plastic ruler. Intra-method reliability of foot length measures was assessed using kappa scores, and differences between measurers were analysed using Bland and Altman plots.
results142 paired measures were conducted. The kappa statistic for the foot length tool to classify newborns as having small feet indicated that it was moderately reliable when applied by volunteers, with a kappa score of 0.53 (95% confidence interval 0.40 - 0.66) . Examination of differences revealed that community volunteers systematically underestimated the length of newborn feet compared to the researcher (mean difference -0.26 cm (95% confidence interval -0.31-0.22), thus overestimating the number of newborns needing extra care.
conclusionsThe newborn foot length tool used by community volunteers to identify small babies born at home was moderately reliable in southern Tanzania where a large number of births occur at home and scales are not available. Newborn foot length is not the best anthropometric proxy for birthweight but was simple to implement at home in the first days of life when the risk of newborn death is highest.
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