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Select Research on the panel at BVI Launch 12th October 2010
The panel (Select Research, Aston University, Heartlands NHS Hospital together with data presented on behalf of Mayo Clinic) presented the research into BVI when compared against the nearly 200-year-old measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI), which brought out some key points of the benefits of BVI for the audience:
Central Obesity Management: Richard Barnes MD at Select Research said: “Most people in the world realise that carrying extra weight around the stomach means that they do have a greater health risk, commonly known in healthcare as central obesity. What BVI now offers the world is a brand new way of measuring the abdominal area which BMI simply cannot do. BMI was never meant to be used as an individual assessment for obesity and we believe that after nearly 200 years, each patient deserves to be measured in a way that takes their own body shape and lifestyle factors into account.”
Weight Management Motivational Tool: 3D scans do work as visual aids for people trying to lose weight as, over time, they can show how a patient’s body shape has changed as BVI measures and tracks the segments of the body. BVI effectively ‘photocopies’ the human body and allows highly sophisticated measurements to be extracted and used by a patient to instigate and internalise their weight issues psychologically.
Accurate predictor of risk, associated with cardio vascular disease: BMI is only able to provide the mass of the body – what it is unable to do is recognise body composition i.e. the distribution of lean muscle, fat and tissue, whereas through BVI scanning, we are able to see the volume of different parts of the body and then, used in conjunction with other biometric markers such as blood glucose, lipids etc, it can determine increase risk of stroke or heart disease.
Accuracy of BVI: Results from validation by Mayo Clinic and Heartlands Hospital was presented illustrating that: “A 3D scanner is a reliable and valid method to measure obesity-related anthropometric variable” and that “BVI calculations correlated significantly with all biomarkers of cardio-vascular risk, suggesting that BVI may be a better tool to assess cardio-vascular risk than conventional obesity measures.” This validation shows that BVI measures more accurately than using manual techniques.
Review by NICE: BVI was submitted to NICE in February this year for potential review and it was confirmed that an initial review of BVI as a comparator to BMI would be undertaken by NICE in November, under their independent criteria and evaluation.
Cost Savings for the NHS: Richard Barnes confirmed that existing expenditure within the NHS for data collection of BMI had been submitted for NICE review and that it had been calculated that there would be substantive cost savings for the introduction of BVI within the public sector. The current expenditure for BMI under the Quality Outcomes Framework has been submitted to NICE together with the anticipated cost savings of introducing BVI and automated measurement into the NHS in confidence.
