Johannessen Erlend, Johansson Jonas, Hartvigsen Gunnar, Horsch Alexander, Årsand Eirik, Henriksen André
Department of Computer Science, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Department of Community Medicine, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Int J Med Inform. 2023 May;173:105043. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2023.105043. Epub 2023 Mar 14.
Serious public-health concerns such as overweight and obesity are in many cases caused by excess intake of food combined with decreases in physical activity. Smart scales with wireless data transfer can, together with smart watches and trackers, observe changes in the population's health. They can present us with a picture of our metabolism, body health, and disease risks. Combining body composition data with physical activity measurements from devices such as smart watches could contribute to building a human digital twin.
The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the evolution of smart scales in the last decade, (2) map status and supported sensors of smart scales, (3) get an overview of how smart scales have been used in research, and (4) identify smart scales for current and future research.
We searched for devices through web shops and smart scale tests/reviews, extracting data from the manufacturer's official website, user manuals when available, and data from web shops. We also searched scientific literature databases for smart scale usage in scientific papers.
We identified 165 smart scales with a wireless connection from 72 different manufacturers, released between 2009 and end of 2021. Of these devices, 49 (28%) had been discontinued by end of 2021. We found that the use of major variables such as fat and muscle mass have been as good as constant over the years, and that minor variables such as visceral fat and protein mass have increased since 2015. The main contribution is a representative overview of consumer grade smart scales between 2009 and 2021.
The last six years have seen a distinct increase of these devices in the marketplace, measuring body composition with bone mass, muscle mass, fat mass, and water mass, in addition to weight. Still, the number of research projects featuring connected smart scales are few. One reason could be the lack of professionally accurate measurements, though trend analysis might be a more feasible usage scenario.
超重和肥胖等严重的公共卫生问题在很多情况下是由食物摄入过量以及身体活动减少导致的。具备无线数据传输功能的智能秤，能够与智能手表和追踪器一起，观察人群健康状况的变化。它们可以为我们呈现新陈代谢、身体健康和疾病风险的情况。将身体成分数据与来自智能手表等设备的身体活动测量数据相结合，可能有助于构建人类数字孪生模型。
本研究的目的是：（1）调查过去十年智能秤的发展情况；（2）梳理智能秤的现状及支持的传感器；（3）概述智能秤在研究中的应用情况；（4）确定适用于当前及未来研究工作的智能秤。
我们通过网络商店以及智能秤测试/评测来搜索设备，从制造商的官方网站、如有可用的用户手册以及网络商店的数据中提取数据。我们还在科学文献数据库中搜索科学论文中智能秤的使用情况。
我们识别出了72个不同制造商在2009年至2021年底期间发布的165款具备无线连接功能的智能秤。在这些设备中，截至2021年底，有49款（28%）已停产。我们发现，多年来诸如脂肪和肌肉量等主要变量的测量情况基本保持稳定，而诸如内脏脂肪和蛋白质质量等次要变量自2015年以来有所增加。主要贡献在于对2009年至2021年消费级智能秤进行了具有代表性的概述。
在过去六年中，这类设备在市场上的数量显著增加，除了体重之外，还能测量包括骨量、肌肉量、脂肪量和水分量在内的身体成分。不过，以联网智能秤为特色的研究项目数量仍然很少。一个原因可能是缺乏专业准确的测量，尽管趋势分析可能是一种更可行的使用场景。
