Funding outcome

Body composition is the amount of how much muscle, fat, bone, and water a person is made up of. It can provide insight into overall health status and help doctors to tailor care to their patients. The gold-standard methods for measuring body composition are expensive and difficult to access. They rely on highly-trained professionals to conduct and interpret the scans. This makes them impractical, especially in remote communities. Three-dimensional (3D) optical body scanning is a new, quick, and non-invasive method for measuring body composition. There are two types of 3D optical scanners we are interested in. One uses a camera and rotating platform, while the other is a smart phone application. These newer methods have been tested in adults with success. However, we do not know how valid or reliable they are for use in children or teenagers. The purpose of our study is to test two 3D optical scanners and compare them to gold-standard methods. To do this, we will recruit 94 children age 10-18. Each participant will complete one study visit at the University of Alberta that will last about 2 hours. During the visit, we will measure body composition using multiple devices. This will let us compare the 3D optical systems to the gold-standard methods. This will determine how valid the devices are. We will also perform the scans multiple times on each device to test their reliability. We will do this in children with and without obesity to ensure these tools are appropriate for different body sizes. If these devices are valid and reliable, this will support the use of 3D optical scanning as an accessible alternative to current methods. This is important for rural communities where expensive methods for measuring body composition are not available. 3D optical scanning may also improve pediatric health screening and help reduce barriers to care. This may also help doctors detect obesity-related health risks earlier and provide personalized prevention and treatment plans.