Measurement of Waist and Hip Circumference with a Body Surface Scanner: Feasibility, Validity, Reliability, and Correlations with Markers of the Metabolic Syndrome

Abstract

ObjectiveBody surface scanners (BS), which visualize a 3D image of the human body, facilitate the computation of numerous body measures, including height, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC). However, limited information is available regarding validity and reliability of these automated measurements (AM) and their correlation with parameters of the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) compared to traditional manual measurements (MM).MethodsAs part of a cross-sectional feasibility study, AM of WC, HC and height were assessed twice in 60 participants using a 3D BS (VitussmartXXL). Additionally, MM were taken by trained personnel according to WHO guidelines. Participants underwent an interview, bioelectrical impedance analysis, and blood pressure measurement. Blood samples were taken to determine HbA1c, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid. Validity was assessed based on the agreement between AM and MM, using Bland-Altman-plots, correlation analysis, and paired t-tests. Reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) based on two repeated AM. Further, we calculated age-adjusted Pearson correlation for AM and MM with fat mass, systolic blood pressure, HbA1c, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and uric acid.ResultsBody measures were higher in AM compared to MM but both measurements were strongly correlated (WC, men, difference = 1.5cm, r = 0.97; women, d = 4.7cm, r = 0.96; HC, men, d = 2.3cm, r = 0.97; women, d = 3.0cm; r = 0.98). Reliability was high for all AM (nearly all ICC>0.98). Correlations of WC, HC, and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with parameters of MetS were similar between AM and MM; for example the correlation of WC assessed by AM with HDL-cholesterol was r = 0.35 in men, and r = -0.48 in women, respectively whereas correlation of WC measured manually with HDL cholesterol was r = -0.41 in men, and r = -0.49 in women, respectively.ConclusionsAlthough AM of WC, HC, and WHR are higher when compared to MM based on WHO guidelines, our data indicate good validity, excellent reliability, and similar correlations to parameters of the MetS.

Assessment of Abdominal Obesity using 3D Body Scanning Technology

“…The automated measurements showed higher percentages of subjects with abdominal obesity compared to the manual measurements in all BMI categories except for the underweight category (Table 2). Similar results were reported by Jaeschke et al (2015), where automated measurements of WC and HC are higher compared to the manual measurement.…”

“…The tissue constriction, tensing of the gluteal muscle and/or not measuring at the correct anatomical landmark could also influence the HC reading during manual measurement. Thus, automated measurement could help to avoid measurement errors that may occur during manual measurement (Jaeschke et al 2015), which would lead to improper diagnosis of abdominal obesity.…”

“…However, standardize, precise and accurate measurement of WC and HC is often challenging, time consuming, error prone and may require assistance, especially in obese individuals. With the advancement of 3D scanning technology, these obstacles can be overcome where 3D body scanner could provide more accurate and precise circumference measurements (Jaeschke et al 2015). These measurement data can also be stored on computer system and retrieved whenever required (Treleaven & Wells 2007).…”

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

“…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].…”

Exploration of Human Ageing by 3D-Laser Scanning Anthropometry

“…for cosmetic and reconstructive surgery [3,4], and recently in medical and health research to study anthropometry of hundreds to thousands of participants in large cohort studies with high accuracy [5,6]. These new and amended data are expected to improve the diagnostics of many diseases, however, current applications usually don't consider the whole information provided by the set of body measures and, instead, use only a small part of them to estimate simple body indices such as body mass index (BMI) or waist-to-hip circumference ratio (WtH) [7][8][9][10]. 3D-body scans were applied in the Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases (LIFE), conducting the largest population based study with an extensive phenotyping of urban individuals in Germany to date [11].…”