Sample Size of the Original Holliday-Segar Study
The provided evidence does not contain information about the sample size of the original 1957 Holliday-Segar study.
What the Evidence Shows
The guidelines and research articles provided repeatedly reference the Holliday-Segar formula as the historical foundation for calculating maintenance fluid volumes in children 1. However, none of these documents report the actual sample size or methodological details of the original 1957 publication by Holliday and Segar.
Context from Available Evidence
The 2022 ESPNIC guidelines acknowledge that IV maintenance fluid therapy prescriptions have historically been based on Holliday and Segar's work 1, but note that modern evidence has identified potential complications with strict adherence to these original recommendations, including:
- Hyponatremia
- Fluid overload
- Hyperchloremic acidosis
The guidelines now recommend restricting maintenance fluid volumes to 65-80% of the Holliday-Segar calculated volume in children at risk of increased ADH secretion 1.
Important Clinical Note
While the original study's sample size is not available in this evidence set, what matters clinically is that current best practice has evolved beyond the 1957 recommendations. Modern guidelines emphasize isotonic balanced solutions with volume restriction rather than the hypotonic fluids and full calculated volumes originally proposed by Holliday and Segar 1.
To obtain the actual sample size of the 1957 study, you would need to access the original publication directly.