Digital Anthropometry for Body Circumference Measurements: European Phenotypic Variations throughout the Decades

Abstract

This review summarizes body circumference-based anthropometrics that are in common use for research and in some cases clinical application. These include waist and hip circumference-based central body indices to predict cardiometabolic risk: waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, waist-to-thigh ratio, body adiposity index, a body shape index (ABSI), hip index (HI), and body roundness index (BRI). Limb circumference measurements are most often used to assess sarcopenia and include: thigh circumference, calf circumference, and mid-arm circumference. Additionally, this review presents fascinating recent developments in optic-based imaging technologies that have elucidated changes over the last decades in average body size and shape in European populations. The classical apple and pear shape concepts of body shape difference remain useful, but novel and exciting 3-D optical “e-taper” measurements provide a potentially powerful new future vista in anthropometrics.

Evaluation of automated anthropometrics produced by smartphone-based machine learning: a comparison with traditional anthropometric assessments

“…While traditional tape measurements are considered to be cost effective and accessible, there are questions regarding their social acceptance and reliability, (24) particularly for those with overweight or obesity. (25) As such, this study sought comprehensively evaluate the precision and agreement of automated and clinically significant anthropometric variables across multiple mobile applications, and smartphones, against a reference tape measurement. The principle findings were 1) all variables produced by each mobile application and between smartphones exhibited acceptable precision which were comparable with tape measurements; 2) WC, HC, and W:HT from all mobile applications demonstrated equivalence with tape measurements; however, WC was slightly underestimated whereas HC was slightly overestimated; 3) the slight under-and overestimations for WC and HC were small enough to demonstrate equivalence, but resulted in non-equivalence for WHR across all automated methods; 4) there were no differences between WC produced by the automated methods and the reference in males, but WC was significantly underestimated across all applications in females; and 5) some variation existed across applications, but all variables demonstrated slightly lower agreement for B/AA participants compared to White participants which may be a product of the weight status differences between groups or demographics of the populations used for method development.…”

A nomogram to predict the risk of sarcopenia in older people

“…[ 45 ] Calf circumference can reflect the nutritional status and skeletal muscle atrophy in the elderly, and as a simple anthropometric parameter, it is an indirect method to evaluate muscle mass of the lower extremities. [ 46 ]…”

“…[45] Calf circumference can reflect the nutritional status and skeletal muscle atrophy in the elderly, and as a simple anthropometric parameter, it is an indirect method to evaluate muscle mass of the lower extremities. [46] Although a nomogram has been established and validated to predict the risk of sarcopenia among community-dwelling older residents, including age, marital status, BMI, regular physical activity, uninterrupted sedentary time, and dietary diversity score. [47] Similarly, the critical influence of age on sarcopenia was highlighted in this study.…”

Improvements of mid‐thigh circumferences following robotic rehabilitation in hemiparetic stroke patients

“…Central body circumference measurements, for example, the hip and waist circumferences, were carried out to predict cardiometabolic rate (Liu et al, 2019;Minetto et al, 2022;Savva et al, 2013). In a review by Minetto et al (2022), limb circumferences had been used in assisting the prediction of sarcopenia and are beneficial in clinical settings for demonstrating nutritional status and/or indirect evaluation of muscle size and limb volume. The most common measurements sites on the limbs are the circumferences of the mid-thigh, calf, and mid-upper arm and mid-arm circumferences (Do & Kang, 2022;Duarte et al, 2022;Minetto et al, 2022).…”