title: Reliability of a 3D Body Scanner for Anthropometric Measurements of Central Obesity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Central obesity poses a significant risk for cardiovascular diseases, but the reproducibility of manual measurements of waist and hip circumferences has been questioned. An automated 3D body scanner that uses white light rays could potentially increase the reliability of these anthropometric measurements.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed the reproducibility of anthropometric measurements performed manually and using a 3D-scanner in 83 adult volunteers. Manual measures of WC and HC were obtained using unmarked, non-elastic ribbons in order to avoid observer and confirmation bias. The 3D-scanner was used to create body images and to obtain WC and HC measurements in an automated fashion.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The inter-observer mean differences were 3.9 ± 2.4 cm for WC; 2.7 ± 2.4 cm, for HC, and 0.006 ± 0.02 cm for WHR. Intra-observer mean differences for manual measurements were 3.1 ± 1.9 cm for WC, 1.8 ± 2.2 cm for HC and 0.11 ± 0.1 cm for WHR. The 3D-scanner variability for WC was 1.3 ± 0.9 cm, for HC was 0.8 ± 0.1 and 0.005 ± 0.01 cm for WHR. All means were significantly different (p<0.05) between manual and automated methods.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 3D-scanner is a more reliable and reproducible method for measuring WC, HC and WHR to detect central obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Medina-Inojosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Virend K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Somers
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA; Department of Gastroenterology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Taiwo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ngwa
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hinshaw
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Jimenez
keywords: 3D-scanner; Central obesity; Hip circumference; Obesity; Waist circumference; Waist-to-hip ratio