Design, Execution, and Results of an Anthropometric Surveillance Study.

Large anthropometric surveys are expensive, time-consuming, and accordingly rare. The databases drawn from these surveys necessarily represent a snapshot of a given population’s anthropometric variability. To ensure their continued validity, the maintenance of anthropometric databases should include the periodic review of current body size information and changes in demographics of the described population. This paper reports a body size review through the execution of an anthropometric surveillance study in support of the US Army’s 2012 Anthropometric Survey (ANSUR II) databases. This surveillance study was a targeted data collection effort specifically designed to investigate the continued use of the ANSUR II databases. Analyses of the data from the surveillance study show that the ANSUR II databases still accurately reflect the current US Army.