title: Allometric assessment of somatic specificities.
abstract: The clinical assessment of body build and proportions is usually based on relating anthropometric measurements to the respective mean values found for population of a given age. The other common method is relating the measurements of body parts directly to body height or body mass, i.e. as simple ratios. The first approach is inaccurate because it implies that various body parts develop independently from each other while the second one may be erroneous when the respective relationship is non-linear. The paper presents an alternative, allometric approach to anthropometric measurements and highlights the principal questions associated with points of reference used in an anthropometric assessment of body proportions. As indicated, allometry enables an accurate assessment of body proportions and is practically free from false positive or false negative results, which is of great importance in various areas, e.g. in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stastitics and Computer Science, The Jozef Pilsudski University of Physical Education, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stupnicki
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tomaszewski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013008:Somatotypes