Somatotyping using 3D anthropometry: a cluster analysis.
Somatotyping is the quantification of human body shape, independent of body size. Hitherto, somatotyping (including the most popular method, the Heath-Carter system) has been based on subjective visual ratings, sometimes supported by surface anthropometry. This study used data derived from three-dimensional (3D) whole-body scans as inputs for cluster analysis to objectively derive clusters of similar body shapes. Twenty-nine dimensions normalised for body size were measured on a purposive sample of 301 adults aged 17-56 years who had been scanned using a Vitus Smart laser scanner. K-means Cluster Analysis with v-fold cross-validation was used to determine shape clusters. Three male and three female clusters emerged, and were visualised using those scans closest to the cluster centroid and a caricature defined by doubling the difference between the average scan and the cluster centroid. The male clusters were decidedly endomorphic (high fatness), ectomorphic (high linearity), and endo-mesomorphic (a mixture of fatness and muscularity). The female clusters were clearly endomorphic, ectomorphic, and the ecto-mesomorphic (a mixture of linearity and muscularity). An objective shape quantification procedure combining 3D scanning and cluster analysis yielded shape clusters strikingly similar to traditional somatotyping.
UniSA, Health Sciences, GPO Box 2471, Adelaide 5001, Australia. tim.olds@unisa.edu.au
Tim
T
Olds
Nathan
N
Daniell
John
J
Petkov
Arthur
A
David Stewart
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013008:Somatotypes; D055815:Young Adult