The Waist Circumference measurement can be the primary anchoring point of the absorbent article as it can represent the minimum circumference around the body especially for women who have a more hourglass body shape or a more pear-like body shape. This is a function of fit at the minimum circumference, which means the product circumference and as a result force at the waist would have to increase to slide or sag due to the increased body dimension at the hip. The Body Rise and Waist Circumference are illustrated in FIG. 1. The relationship of the Body Rise to the Waist Circumference (Body Rise-to-Waist Circumference Ratio), as illustrated in FIG. 2, is an important product design parameter to ensure that the length of the article is not excessive. Excessive article length can result in extra materials in the crotch, leading to sagging, leakage, bulk and in material showing above the top of the clothing all of which can have a negative impact on performance and discretion.
The Body Length and Waist Width are illustrated in FIG. 3. The Body Length-to-Waist Silhouette, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 correlates with the Body Rise-to-Waist Circumference Ratio as the values of both decrease as BMI and Waist Circumference increase. This is shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5.
As the Waist Circumference increases with BMI, Body Rise-to-Waist Circumference Ratio and Body Length-to-Waist Silhouette both decrease. A key benefit of having the Product Length-to-Waist Silhouette closer to that of the Body Length-to-Waist Silhouette and designed to change accordingly with BMI and Waist Circumference is that the product itself more closely matches the shape of the body. This results in the product being deformed to a significantly lesser degree during application than one that is generically designed to fit a bigger range as illustrated by the current marketed products. It also results in a product fit, which is more tailored to the body shape, providing more effective gasketing and less extraneous material in the crotch. In fact, many of the current marketed products are designed to fit increments as large as 100 pounds and, as such do not provide adequate fit, gasketing, comfort and discretion across the entire range. Additionally, product designs which mimic the general shape of the body convey to consumers a better, more tailored fit as the Product Length-to-Waist Silhouettes are more similar to consumers' Body Length-to-Waist Silhouettes. The designs enabled by the present disclosure are more targeted by design and therefore provide a greater level of fit, gasketing, comfort and discretion.
Adult incontinence (“AI”) absorbent articles of the present disclosure may be used to absorb and contain liquid and other discharges from the human body to prevent the body and clothing from becoming soiled. For adults who suffer from urinary incontinence, urine voiding consists of two general types: stress urinary incontinence (“SUI”) and urge urinary incontinence (“UUI”). SUI is caused by high pressure on the bladder induced by coughing, sneezing, laughing, bending, etc., and can result in a high flow rate though at a smaller urine volume that is associated with UUI. UUI can result in a full bladder release, though at a lower flow rate than that associated with SUI.
Adult Incontinence articles come in a variety of designs, each typically available in multiple sizes, including 2, 3 and 4 size arrays. The size of articles of the prior art typically affects, for example, the size of the waist opening, the size of the openings around the thighs, and the length or “pitch” of the article. Many of these prior art articles are designed to fit ranges up to 100 pounds. The prior art articles are typically sized and sold by waist circumference dimension. The various sizes can have a range in waist circumference of as much as 12 inches and in some cases up to 16 inches. If a consumer selects an adult incontinence article of the prior art which is size appropriate based on the waist circumference dimension of the wearer given the large ranges associated with the various sizes, the thigh openings or pitch of the article, for instance, may be too large for proper fit on the wearer, potentially leading to slipping, sliding, sagging, drooping, or a loss of gasketing effects that are designed to inhibit leakage. Alternatively, depending on where the wearer is within the large size range, the thigh opening or pitch of the article may be too small for proper fit, potentially leading to wearer discomfort, skin marking of the wearer's skin or improper application or positioning of the article on the wearer.
Desirably, an adult absorbent article should be designed and sized to maintain contact with and conform as closely as possible to a wearer's body. Such a body-conforming design may increase the effectiveness of the adult absorbent article by reducing the possibility that urine, or the like, will spread or travel along the wearer's body and leak out of rather than be absorbed into the adult absorbent article. However, current adult absorbent articles on the market do not adequately address body shape or product shape and therefore do not fit a broad range of users adequately or provide the desired level of close fit. Typically AI packages of adult absorbent articles are labeled with a recommended wearer waist circumference range that the packaged article is intended to fit. As a result, the waist circumference is often the sole criteria used to identify the size of an AI article. The waist size does not in itself adequately describe the body shape of the individual and therefore does not help define the hip or thigh circumference nor the pitch that may be needed to provide the proper fit, comfort, coverage and gasketing of the article. This is the case even though other characteristics and anthropometric attributes of potential wearers (for example, age, height, weight, thigh circumference, and rise) may vary widely within the recommended waist circumference range, and may result in an ill-fitting article even though a wearer's waist circumference falls within that range. There is a need for adult absorbent articles that conform well to various wearers' body shapes and sizes. While there is a wide range of body shapes and sizes among women, available products do not reflect this wide range; rather, absorbent articles available today within a given product array tend to be scaled versions of each other, and do not even follow the natural trend of body shape and dimensional changes across the range of consumers, i.e. smaller to larger women as well as women of varying shape.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is on the rise globally for both men and women. In the U.S. alone, more than ⅓ of adult females are now considered obese (BMI>30). This has changed significantly over the past 30 years; in 1980 only about 16% of U.S. adult females were obese. Larger women exhibit different ratios of body anthropometrics than smaller women, i.e., all body dimensions do not simply scale-up as women get larger. In addition, women across the range of BMI may also have very different body shapes. There is a lack of recognition and understanding of this issue by current adult absorbent article manufacturers and as such consumers' needs are not being adequately met. Therefore, there is a need to develop adult absorbent articles for a wide variety of body shapes and sizes in order to provide an improved level of fit and contact between the body and the adult absorbent article to reduce the occurrence leakage and improve the overall fit, comfort, coverage and discretion of the article. There is a clear need for adult absorbent articles which are designed for variety of wearers based on their BMI and body shape. There is also a need to communicate to wearers the benefits of such customized adult absorbent articles in an easy-to-understand manner (e.g., some women may not understand what BMI is or know their BMI number), which is not off-putting (e.g., without stigmatizing or embarrassing women based on their BMI).
These are all objects of the present disclosure; embodiments of the present disclosure may combine various objects mentioned. A particular embodiment may, but need not, embody every object as described.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds