Weird idea/question of the day - would it be possible to use anthropometric data to predict cancer risk?
Is it possible that machine learning-assisted anthropometric analysis could provide better risk assessment than genetic screening for cancer or other conditions (e.g., connective tissue disorders, heart failure, etc.)? Relative proportions are reflective of relative growth rates of organs and tissues which in turn are the product of both genes and environment and are dependent on factors such as the balance of growth hormones and nutrient intakes. It seems that if a large number of individuals were scanned photographically - or much better with MRI (since more interesting measurements could be taken, e.g. width of the aorta) and the scans were provided as input, along with data from their health records, to an appropriately designed machine learning algorithm, it may be possible to predict risk of various diseases based on anthropometric parameters alone. This occurred to me just prior to learning that a new company, Ezra, is offering whole body MRI scans for early cancer d