ANTHROPOLOGICAL
NOTEBOOKS
Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp. 9-13, ISSN 2232-3716. DOI: https://doi.org/I0.528l/zenodo.5759827 Short report
BAM - (data)base of anthropometric measurements
Petra Golja
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, petra.golja@bf.uni-lj.si
Tatjana Robic Pikel
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, tatjana.robic@bf.uni-lj.si
Abstract
Anthropometry is a scientific discipline dealing with systematic measurements of the human body. As it has a long tradition in Slovenia, extensive anthropometric data has been collected over the years. The present manuscript presents the establishment of a machine-readable anonymised anthropometric database that includes anthropometric data from the Slovenian population since 1940. Currently, double-checking of the data is in progress; a preliminary insight into the available dataset is presented.
KEYWORDS: anthropometry, database, physical anthropology, Slovenia
Introduction
Anthropometry is a scientific discipline that aims to obtain systematic measurements of the human body; it is sometimes viewed as a sub-discipline of physical anthropology. Anthropometric measurements include the measurements of size (such as body height, body mass, body surface area, body volume), proportions (such as sitting and standing height, arm and leg length, shoulder and hip width, neck and limb circumferences), and body composition (such as body fat mass, lean body mass, body water content) of hu -
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mans (Electronic source 1). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an -thropometry provides the single most portable, universally applicable, inexpensive and non-invasive technique for assessing the size, proportions, and composition of the hu -man body (World Health Organization, 1995). Although it is currently an underused technique (World Health Organization, 1995), because it reflects both health and nutri -tional status, it can, to a certain level, predict performance, health, and survival (WHO Expert Committee, 1995), and can be as such a valuable tool in various disciplines. Ac -cording to Marfell-Jones, current president of the International Society for the Ad -vancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK), anthropometric skinfold measurements and quantities derived from them are used in physiology, structural anatomy, endocrinology, kinanthropometry, nutrition, health and fitness, growth, sport, and exercise science, and they are also specifically applied in occupational biomechanics, human hydrodynamics, drug quantification, diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, anorexia nervosa, and many epidemiological and human biology studies (Clarys et al., 1987).
The Department of Biology of the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, has a long tradition of anthropometric measurements, which are performed yearly on the young adult (student) population. The beginnings of systematic anthropometric measurements in Slovenia were in 1930 when Božo Škerlj applied anthropometry in sev -eral of his studies. Skerlj's successors continued with anthropometric measurements in students and, whenever possible, also performed anthropometric measurements in children. Throughout their work, the best anthropometric practice was being followed by complying with established methodology and later with standardised anthropometrical procedures (Lohman et al., 1988; Marfell-Jones, 2006).
As a significant amount of anthropometric work had been performed prior to the era of computers, and as the same laboratory practice was followed for several years thereafter, a large database of anthropometric data had been collected in written (i.e. paper) form. Although the oldest anthropometric data collected by Škerlj have not been retrieved, we have nevertheless possessed a significant number of completed anthropo-metric paper forms. Consequently, we have been faced with a considerable challenge of organising these data into a machine-readable form. Our ongoing work has aimed to es -tablish a machine-readable anonymised collection of anthropometric data that had been collected at our department throughout the 20th and into the 21st centuries.
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Methods
We first collected all anthropometric paper forms from different studies in one place and then numbered them consecutively. As not all subjects' consent forms had been archived, we first applied for ethical clearance to use all of the collected anonymised an -thropometric data from the National Ethics Committee of the Republic of Slovenia; we obtained it in 2011 (Approval No. KME 104/12/10). We then compiled a list of various anthropometric variables that had been measured through decades. If equivocal termi -nology was detected (for example, the term "suprailiac" (skinfold) can be interpreted as referring to both iliac crest or supraspinal location, so it is necessary to recognise the ex -act location of the measurement), the exact description of the measurement site (or the original reference of the measurement protocol) was looked for and appropriately considered. The compiled list of anthropometric variables served as a basis for database construction; Microsoft Access software was used for this purpose. Special care was tak -en to set up the database in a manner that restricted the input of largely erroneous data to avoid erroneous inputs due to, for example, the use of different units with the same variable. Finally, we classified the available data according to the type of obtained an -thropometric measurements (i.e., into cross-sectional or longitudinal data).
Results
It has taken us quite some time to translate the available anthropometric data into a ma -chine-readable format, but all anonymised anthropometric data from the paper forms have now been entered into the database.
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