Novel Anthropometry Based on 3D-Bodyscans Applied to a Large Population Based Cohort

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) whole body scanners are increasingly used as precise measuring tools for the rapid quantification of anthropometric measures in epidemiological studies. We analyzed 3D whole body scanning data of nearly 10,000 participants of a cohort collected from the adult population of Leipzig, one of the largest cities in Eastern Germany. We present a novel approach for the systematic analysis of this data which aims at identifying distinguishable clusters of body shapes called body types. In the first step, our method aggregates body measures provided by the scanner into meta-measures, each representing one relevant dimension of the body shape. In a next step, we stratified the cohort into body types and assessed their stability and dependence on the size of the underlying cohort. Using self-organizing maps (SOM) we identified thirteen robust meta-measures and fifteen body types comprising between 1 and 18 percent of the total cohort size. Thirteen of them are virtually gender specific (six for women and seven for men) and thus reflect most abundant body shapes of women and men. Two body types include both women and men, and describe androgynous body shapes that lack typical gender specific features. The body types disentangle a large variability of body shapes enabling distinctions which go beyond the traditional indices such as body mass index, the waist-to-height ratio, the waist-to-hip ratio and the mortality-hazard ABSI-index. In a next step, we will link the identified body types with disease predispositions to study how size and shape of the human body impact health and disease.

Anthropometric Database of the Preschool Children from 2 to 6 Years in Taiwan

“…In this study, an electromagnetic motion analysis system, flexible measuring tapes and electronic calipers were used for body dimension measuring. Although 3D body scanners are regarded as the most precise and rapid measuring tools, vast majority of individuals in the related research or industrial application are adults or older than 16 years old [28][29][30][31]. 3D body scanner are commonly used to measure local dimensions of heads, hands or feet, as well as circumference of segments because they are simple and quick [32,33].…”

Lifestyle and precision diabetes medicine: will genomics help optimise the prediction, prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes through lifestyle therapy?

“…weight change); however, the regional distribution of adipose tissue (particularly when it is deep within the abdominal cavity and within or around the liver, heart and pancreas) [10] and the patterns of change in response to an intervention [11], are likely to elucidate diabetes aetiology better than weight change per se. The emergence of optical triangulation 3D scanning technologies that allow frequent assessments of body form to be captured quickly, safely and at relatively low cost, may facilitate this process [12].…”

Exploration of Human Ageing by 3D-Laser Scanning Anthropometry

“…We recently developed an analysis pipeline for 3D body scanning data and applied this software to the LIFE-ADULT data [12]. In brief, we applied self-organizing map (SOM) machine learning to aggregate body measures provided by the scanner software into a roughly tenfold reduced set of meta-measures, each representing a cluster of correlated single body measures.…”

“…An overview of the meta-measures and their localizations are given in Figure 2a. In a second clustering step, participants were aggregated into 15 body types (see [12] for detailed discussion): We found two body types which collect larger fractions of both male and female participants (B1 and B2), representing body shapes which lack of gender specifics. Six body types collect virtually exclusively women (F1-F6), while seven body types are male specific (M1-M7).…”

“…LIFE-ADULT covers an age range from 40-80 years. Previously, we developed an analysis pipeline for 3D body scanning data and applied this software to the LIFE-ADULT data [12]. There we systematically analysed the complete set of body measures provided by 3D-body scanning.…”