SizeThailand e-Health: A personalised health monitoring and diagnosis system using 3D body scanning technology

Obesity has now become a national health problem for many countries throughout the world. It is thought to be the root of many other medical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes. Thailand is one of the countries affected by this so-called `obesity epidemic´, having seen a dramatic increase in obesity in the past decade. According to the results published earlier this year by the Thai Sizing Survey (SizeThailand), around 35% of the Thai population is either overweight or obese. This number was increased from 27% in 2003 when the Department of Health conducted their diet and nutrition survey. This paper describes a personalised health monitoring and diagnosis system developed by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) as part of a national project called SizeThailand e-Health. The system allows the users to regularly monitor their body shape and health online. Periodically, the data are sent to doctors and nutritionists to provide a personalised feedback on the status of health for each user. This way, doctors can also diagnose people with obesity and give them guidance or recommendations on how to control their weight accordingly. Moreover, the data collected through the system can be further analysed to find associations between body shape and health.