Validity and intraobserver reliability of three-dimensional scanning compared with conventional anthropometry for children and adolescents from a population-based cohort study.

Background: Conventional anthropometric measurements are time consuming and require well trained medical staff. To use three-dimensional whole body laser scanning in daily clinical work, validity, and reliability have to be confirmed.

Methods: We compared a whole body laser scanner with conventional anthropometry in a group of 473 children and adolescents from the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE-Child). Concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) were calculated separately for sex, weight, and age to assess validity. Overall CCC (OCCC) was used to analyze intraobserver reliability.

Results: Body height and the circumferences of waist, hip, upper arm, and calf had an "excellent" (CCC ≥ 0.9); neck and thigh circumference, a "good" (CCC ≥ 0.7); and head circumference, a "low" (CCC < 0.5) degree of concordance over the complete study population. We observed dependencies of validity on sex, weight, and age. Intraobserver reliability of both techniques is "excellent" (OCCC ≥ 0.9).

Conclusion: Scanning is faster, requires less intensive staff training and provides more information. It can be used in an epidemiologic setting with children and adolescents but some measurements should be considered with caution due to reduced agreement with conventional anthropometry.