Anthropometric Model of Total Body Volume for Males of Different Sizes

A theoretical model is proposed for calculating total body volume for the human body using 3 geometric shapes representing 10 different body segments. A unique feature includes a "rounding-off" procedure for the trunk segment. Sixty-three males (mean age 30.3 years ± 1.01) were divided into small, medium, and large sizes using a bivariate sizing scheme based on height and weight. Most heights and lengths, and some breadths, depths, and circumferences were significantly different (p < .05) between the different groups. The prediction of body volume was highly correlated with densiometrically determined body volume (r = .98 S.E. = 2.7% of mean) for the total group. The model was shown not to be size specific as the validity coefficients were r = .97 (S.E. 2.6% of mean), r = .96 (S.E. 3.0% of mean), and r = .99 (S.E. 2.6% of mean) for the small, medium, and large groups, respectively. In view of these high validity coefficients it was concluded that the summation of the segmental geometric shapes for calculating volume closely approximated the actual total body volume.