Anthropometric and computed tomography scan exposure measurements among adult patients, a hospital-based study

Abstract

Medical exposures to ionizing radiation constitute nearly half of the total radiation exposures from all sources. The higher utilization of imaging services is happening all over the world, Uganda inclusive. We sought to establish the relationship between adult patient anthropometric measurements and computed tomography scan exposure variables. This was a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted in three selected hospitals performing adult CT scan examinations. A total of 176 adult patients who presented for head, abdominal, cardiac CT—calcium score and cardiac angiogram were recruited in the study. Data was collected using a piloted standardized research protocol for establishing diagnostic reference values. The data collected were weight, height, age and sex with CT scan variables. Data were analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. This study was also approved by the ethics committee. The key findings showed that the examination, reference and total mAs were associated with significant positive associations with the anthropometric characteristics namely; weight, height and BMI as opposed to sex and age. The findings also revealed that males were generally exposed to higher doses for Head and Cardiac CT studies with females receiving higher doses for abdominal examinations only.