[Relation of external biometric parameters to health risk and mortality--analysis and evaluation of different...

In clinical practice diagnoses can be found which are partially based on body measurements. By measuring body height and body weight the patient is categorised, for example by Body-Mass Index (BMI), in different adipose grades. Different diseases are associated with specific biometric parameters. Abdominal adiposity measured by waist circumference correlates with the risk of colon carcinoma and is one diagnostic criteria of the metabolic syndrome. An unhealthy waist-hip ratio (WHR) can cause a higher risk of a cardiovascular disease and dementia. By combining body measurement with cause of death found during the medicolegal autopsy, clinical relevant correlations can be uncovered. Research in medical databases (e.g. PubMed) was carried out to find studies showing possible associations between body measurements, their indices and morbidity or causes of death. This article is a selective survey of these published studies, current guidelines and the German Institute for Standardisation - Norm (DIN-Norm). We give a wide thematic overview and select relevant parameters, which should be taken during medico-legal autopsies in future. The ascertainment of those parameters and their adjustment with the findings of the medico-legal autopsies can be a key to finding predictors of history of disease and relevant morbidity risks in the institutes of forensic medicine. Such findings are very important in the assessment of risk for living patients and necessary preventive actions. Beside the measurement of waist and hip circumference mentioned in specific clinical guidelines in Germany, we suggest, after analysing the parameters, to measure the thickness of the subcutaneous fat on the anterior chest and the thigh circumference as well.