Reliability and repeatability of 3-D body scanner (LASS) measurements compared to anthropometry

The Loughborough Anthropometric Shadow Scanner (LASS) digitizes the body, to give size and shape in three dimensions. After some manipulation of data, body measurements can be taken from the computerized scan. This paper compares LASS measurements with anthropometric measurements, and examines intra- and inter-observer differences of both techniques. LASS and anthropometric measurements were generally similar. Although there were small but significant (p < 0.05) differences at some sites, these differences were explained by difficulties in making horizontal tape measurements, and by differences in site location on LASS scans due to imperfect site markers. Standard errors of measurement due to intra-observer differences were generally smaller by LASS (1.1-5.3 mm) than anthropometry (2.0-7.2 mm); however, inter-observer differences were similar by both techniques (3.0-13.1 mm for anthropometry compared to 1.3-8.3 mm for LASS). Repeatability of 3-D measurements taken from computerized whole-body scans was no better than that from traditional anthropometric measurements; however, the scan data have a far greater utilization, for they provide information on body shapes, segmental volumes and surface areas as well as size.