Capillary Refill for Assessment of Dehydration

Capillary Refill to Detect Dehydration in Children

Capillary refill is used clinically to assess multiple things in children. This is a prospective observational study of the correlation between capillary refill time and degree of dehydration in children seen in a pediatric ED.

All patient presenting to the pediatric ER at OHSU less than 10 years are eligible to be enrolled if being seen for a condition putting them at risk for dehydration including emesis, diarrhea, etc. Children will have their capillary refill time measured and then sent home with a digital scale to track their weight. This will serve as the standard for calculating percent dehydration. When a patient has reached a stable weight at 1 week we will assume this is their healthy weight. There is no intervention in the study.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All children with chief complaint of diarrhea, emesis, nausea, abdominal pain

Exclusion Criteria:

• Any child with chronic cardiac or pulm disease, raynauds syndrome, bilateral upper extremity trauma, previously enrolled in the study, already received IVF in the previous 48hrs, surgery within 1week, osteogenesis imperfecta.