Anthropometry of the Canadian adult population: Developing comprehensive, updated normative-reference standards

Abstract

IntroductionApplications of structural anthropometric measurements include user-centered design, health risk appraisal and assessment of biological maturity. It is important that anthropometric normative-reference standards are current, comprehensive, and population specific. Previous work by Pheasant (1996) included thirty-six anthropometric measurements to create a comprehensive and comparable list of data. However, Canadian studies have included nineteen or less body dimensions, and relatively small sample sizes. The aims of this investigation were to create current and comprehensive anthropometric normative-reference standards for a young Canadian adult population and to analyze the differences in anthropometric data between subjects in this study and those of a previous study on a similar population. MethodsThirty-six structural body dimensions were manually measured on a sample size of 197 male and 204 female Ontario, Canada university-aged subjects. Descriptive statistics were reported based on sex and independent samples t-tests were used to compare the anthropometric dimensions of the current study with that of a similar, previous study on Nova Scotia, Canada university-aged subjects. ResultsPercentiles and standard deviations of the subjects' 36 body dimensions were tabulated and are reported based on sex. For example, male and female 50th percentile values for stature are 1783 mm and 1641 mm, respectively. All differences in body dimensions between both male populations were statistically significant at p < 0.01. All but four differences in body dimensions between both female populations were statistically significant at p < 0.01. Discussion & ConclusionsThe current study was able to present anthropometric normative-reference standards of a large Canadian sample that are more comprehensive and current than known to exist. Moreover, as there were many significant differences between the current (Ontario) and previous (Nova Scotia) populations' anthropometric data, it is suggested that a Canada wide study be investigated. Relevance to industryAs the most comprehensive Canadian data available, the reported anthropometric measurements may be used as a relevant consideration in product and environment design. Interpretation of findings from the comparison of anthropometric data between geographic regions within Canada also suggest that ergonomic design using province specific anthropometric data may result in improved workplace safety and productivity.