Precision of recumbent anthropometry

In some studies recumbent anthropometric measures are more appropriate than standing measures. There is little published information, however, on the precision of recumbent measures. To estimate the interobserver precision of recumbent anthropometry, 22 men and 29 women volunteers 35–64 years of age were each measured on the same day by four trained nurses previously inexperienced in anthropometry. Fourteen recumbent measurements were taken, including abdominal sagittal diameter measured with a new type of caliper. The nurses also measured standing waist and hip girths. Various indicators of interobserver precision were estimated including the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The ICC ranged from 98.5% for calf girth to 56.2% for the suprailiac skinfold in men, while it ranged from 95.8% for upper arm girth to 67.0% for the suprailiac skinfold in women. The abdominal sagittal diameter measurement had very high precision as estimated by the ICC in both men and women, 95.8% and 96.3%, respectively. Recumbent waist girth was, on average, only 0.3 cm larger than standing girth. In contrast, recumbent hip girth was 3.8 cm smaller than standing girth. These findings suggest that studies using recumbent anthropometry can achieve levels of precision similar to those obtained with standing anthropometry. For both sexes, however, the suprailiac skinfold appears to have much lower precision in the recumbent than in the standing position. In addition, prevalence estimates of abdominal obesity derived from the ratio of waist‐to‐hip girths will be higher in studies using recumbent anthropometry than in studies using standing anthropometry. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.