Anthropometric Health Assessment of Adults

Anthropometry is the physical measurement of the human body. Historically, physical anthropologists have centered on osteometric and craniometric measurements; in the 19th century, the focus was on skeletal populations. At the beginning of the 20th century, this research focus shifted to the living as scientists such as Henry Bowditch, the medical doctor, and Franz Boas, the anthropologist, used anthropometric measurements of growing children as markers of health status. Scientists recognized that the growth and development process was affected by the environment and thus reflective of the health and well being of the individual and his/her population. Unfortunately, the study of development generally ceases with samples of young adults, who presumably have finished growing. This article deals with anthropometric health assessment in adults. It proposes that adults continue to change throughout their lives, and that the assessment of such changes through anthropometry has promising applications

Anthropometry · Developmental psychology · Focus group · Physical development · Population · Sociology · Anthropology · Body Composition Measurement Techniques · Demography · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology