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

Area of Science:

• Anthropometry
• Epidemiology
• Biometrics

Background:

• Three-dimensional (3D) whole body scanners are advanced tools for precise anthropometric measurements in epidemiological research.
• Analyzing large datasets from these scanners can reveal complex patterns in human body shapes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply a novel method for identifying and classifying distinct body shapes, termed 'body types', from 3D whole body scan data.
• To analyze a cohort of nearly 10,000 adults from Leipzig, Germany, to discover these body types.

Main Methods:

• Aggregation of 3D scanner data into relevant 'meta-measures' representing body shape dimensions.
• Utilizing self-organizing maps (SOM) for clustering participants into distinct body types.
• Assessing the stability and cohort-size dependence of the identified body types.

Main Results:

• Identification of thirteen robust meta-measures and fifteen distinct body types within the cohort.
• Body types varied in size from 1% to 18% of the cohort.
• Thirteen body types were gender-specific (six for women, seven for men), with two androgynous types comprising both genders.
• These body types provide finer distinctions than traditional indices like BMI, waist-to-height, waist-to-hip ratio, and ABSI.

Conclusions:

• The novel approach successfully categorizes human body shapes into distinct, robust body types.
• These identified body types offer a more nuanced understanding of body shape variability than conventional anthropometric indices.
• Future research will link these body types to disease predispositions to explore their impact on health.