Table 2.

Advantages and limitations of anthropometric and body composition assessments

Method	Features Measured	Advantages	Limitations
General adiposity
BMI*	- Body weight - Height	- Easy to calculate - Quick assessment - Low cost - Reproducible - Widely used - Useful for initial screening of obesity - Useful in population health studies - Correlates with health risks	- Indirect measure of adiposity - Cannot be used to diagnose overweight or obesity - No insight into fat mass content or distribution - Not suitable for certain populations - Influenced by height - Ethnic differences
Anthropometrics for fat distribution
WC*	- Waist girth	- Quick assessment - Low cost - Consistent predictor of metabolic disease	- Requires trained personnel - Inter-individual variability in measurements - Lack of standardized protocols - Penalizes taller individuals - Ethnic and sex cut-offs
WHtR	- Height - Waist	- Quick assessment - Low cost - Strong predictor of cardiometabolic disease risk	- Requires trained personnel - Inter-individual variability in measurements - Lack of standardized protocols
WHT-5R	- Waist girth - Height	- Quick assessment - Low cost - Useful screening tool for cardiometabolic disease	- Requires trained personnel - Inter-individual variability in measurements - Lack of standardized protocols - Not validated across ethnicities
Body shape	- Height - Weight - Waist girth	- Quick assessment - Low cost	- Requires trained personnel - Inter-individual variability in measurements - Lack of standardized protocols - Not validated across ethnicities
Digital Anthropometry
2D	- Body shape	- Quick assessment - No physical contact - Portable - Low cost - Patient can visualize obesity - Publicly available on smartphones	- Relationship between 2D results with cardiometabolic disease risk needs validation
3D	- Body shape	- Quick assessment - No physical contact - Low cost - Patient can visualize obesity	- Proprietary data - Algorithms not comparable between systems - Not easily portable - Relationship between 3D results and cardiometabolic disease risk needs validation
Body Composition
MRI	- Total/regional FM - Skeletal muscle - Visceral adipose tissue - Ectopic fat	- High accuracy - High reproducibility - No exposure to ionizing radiation	- Costly - Requires trained personnel
CT	- Total/regional FM - Skeletal muscle - Visceral adipose tissue - Ectopic fat	- High accuracy - High reproducibility	- Costly - Requires trained personnel - Exposure to ionizing radiation
DXA	- Total/regional FM - Total/regional lean mass - Bone mineral content - Visceral adipose tissue	- Ease of use - Low radiation exposure - Accurate	- High equipment cost - Requires trained personnel - Radiation exposure
BIA	- Total, extracellular and intracellular water - FM and FFM -Visceral adipose tissue	- Ease of use - Low cost - Speed (fast)	- Population specific - Poor accuracy - Affected by edema
Air displacement plethysmography	- Total body volume - Total FM - Total FFM	- Relatively good accuracy - Speed (fast)	- Less accurate in disease - High equipment cost
3D photonic scanning	- Total/regional body volume	- OK for those with severe obesity - Ease of use	- Limited availability
Quantitative magnetic resonance	- Free and total body water - Total FM - Lean tissue mass	- Ease of use - Safety - Speed (fast)	- High equipment cost - Limited availability - Requires trained personnel
Recommended Based on Clinical Feasibility and Importance
BMI; WHtR; Digital anthropometry; BIA

FM: fat mass; FFM: fat free mass; * employ thresholds based on region, ethnicity, age, sex