Associations of Multidimensional Image-Derived Facial Skin Scores with Adiposity Measures in a Large Screening Cohort in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study with Internal Temporal Evaluation

Background/Objectives: Proprietary, age-referenced, image-derived facial skin scores may contain adiposity-related information, but their validity is uncertain. We tested whether 14 scores added predictive information for body mass index (BMI), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)-derived body fat percentage, and a proprietary BIA-derived visceral fat level score beyond age category and sex, after redness, and, exploratorily, after BMI. Methods: This study included 387,859 deduplicated account IDs from a Japanese screening program, a 95.5% nested subset of the previous report’s unique-account cohort. Gradient-boosting models were developed using April–July data and evaluated without retuning on August–October data. Performance was assessed with R2, mean absolute error (MAE), and paired bootstrap confidence intervals. Results: In the internal temporal evaluation cohort (159,726 account IDs), the facial skin-score panel provided incremental predictive information beyond age category and sex and beyond redness. After BMI inclusion, however, the additional explained variance was negligible (ΔR2 = 0.00165 for body fat percentage and 0.00017 for the visceral fat level score). Conclusions: The panel provided modest, order-dependent information in internal temporal evaluation but negligible additional information after BMI inclusion. These unvalidated proprietary scores are hypothesis-generating and do not support diagnostic or body-compartment-specific use.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15218413
Primary Topic
Body Composition Measurement Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Associations of Multidimensional Image-Derived Facial Skin Scores with Adiposity Measures in a Large Screening Cohort in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study with Internal Temporal Evaluation

Atsushi Otsuka, Chisa Nakashima, Ryuichi Morishita, Toshio Morikawa et al.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Body Composition Measurement Techniques
article

Associations of Multidimensional Image-Derived Facial Skin Scores with Adiposity Measures in a Large Screening Cohort in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study with Internal Temporal Evaluation

Atsushi Otsuka, Chisa Nakashima, Ryuichi Morishita, Toshio Morikawa, Hidekazu Yamada, Kazuyasu Fujii, Kimi Iinuma, Shunsuke Morita
article en

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Proprietary, age-referenced, image-derived facial skin scores may contain adiposity-related information, but their validity is uncertain. We tested whether 14 scores added predictive information for body mass index (BMI), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA)-derived body fat percentage, and a proprietary BIA-derived visceral fat level score beyond age category and sex, after redness, and, exploratorily, after BMI. Methods: This study included 387,859 deduplicated account IDs from a Japanese screening program, a 95.5% nested subset of the previous report’s unique-account cohort. Gradient-boosting models were developed using April–July data and evaluated without retuning on August–October data. Performance was assessed with R2, mean absolute error (MAE), and paired bootstrap confidence intervals. Results: In the internal temporal evaluation cohort (159,726 account IDs), the facial skin-score panel provided incremental predictive information beyond age category and sex and beyond redness. After BMI inclusion, however, the additional explained variance was negligible (ΔR2 = 0.00165 for body fat percentage and 0.00017 for the visceral fat level score). Conclusions: The panel provided modest, order-dependent information in internal temporal evaluation but negligible additional information after BMI inclusion. These unvalidated proprietary scores are hypothesis-generating and do not support diagnostic or body-compartment-specific use.

Journal of Clinical MedicineVol. 15(21)
Pharmaceutical Research and Technology Institute, Kindai University (JP), Kindai University (JP), The University of Osaka (JP)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 13%
Body Composition Measurement Techniques
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.

Laika access coming soon