Body composition measurement methods and their clinical application

Body composition measurement could significantly facilitate evaluating the content of various body components, getting information about the health status and assessing the diagnosis, treatment, test, and prognosis of several diseases. Human health will be seriously affected by the imbalance of body composition. Body composition measurement methods are generally divided into local measurement methods and general measurement methods. The former ones include skinfold thickness measurement, ultrasonic measurement, computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance measurement; while the latter ones include anthropometry, underwater weighing measurement, air displacement measurement, biological resistance measurement, near infrared absorption measurement, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measurement, isotope dilution measurement, potassium isotope measurement and three-dimensional body scanning measurement, etc. This article reviews a variety of body composition measurement methods and their clinical application. Key words: Human body composition measurement method; Clinical application; Body fat