Application of three-dimensional body scanner: observation of prevalence of metabolic syndrome

Background & aims: This retrospective cross-sectional study correlates blood pressure, blood glucose, lipid and uric acid levels with anthropometric measurements. Methods: A total of 3975 visitors to the Department of Health Management were randomly selected to participate in this cross-sectional study. Whole body three-dimensional (3-D) laser scans were used to obtain anthropometric measurements. A health index (HI) was also designed based on anthropometric parameters. Subjects were defined as having metabolic syndrome when three of the following criteria were met: obesity (BMI of at least 30kg/m2; or a WHR of over 0.9 for males and 0.85 for females); triglyceride of at least 150mg/dl; high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol below 35mg/dl for males and 39mg/dl for females; fasting sugar levels of at least 110mg/dl and hypertension. Results: Of 3975 subjects, 341 (8.6%) met the criteria for diabetes mellitus (DM); of these, 32.8% were diagnosed with hypertension. This proportion exceeded 18% of the subjects had normal glucose levels. Of the 3975 subjects, 658 (16.6%) met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Proportionally, more male subjects than female subjects were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (18.5% vs 14.7%). Of these, central obesity, elevated triglyceride and low HDL-cholesterol were the main factors in men, while fasting glucose, hypertension and central obesity were the main factors in women. This investigation found that larger proportions of subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (41.1%) and DM (64.2%) than of subjects with normal glucose subjects, suffered from metabolic syndrome (9.5%). Conclusions: 3-D body scanning is useful in correlating pertinent factors with metabolic syndrome, these factors include central obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia and hypertension.