Abstract
BackgroundIn population studies, body mass index (BMI) is generally calculated from self-reported body weight and height. The self-report of these anthropometrics is known to be biased, resulting in a misclassification of BMI status. The aim of our study is to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported weight, height and waist circumference among a Dutch overweight (Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m2) working population, and to determine to what extent the accuracy was moderated by sex, age, BMI, socio-economic status (SES) and health-related factors.MethodsBoth measured and self-reported body weight and body height were collected in 1298 healthy overweight employees (66.6% male; mean age 43.9 ± 8.6 years; mean BMI 29.5 ± 3.4 kg/m2), taking part in the ALIFE@Work project. Measured and self-reported waist circumferences (WC) were available for a sub-group of 250 overweight subjects (70.4% male; mean age 44.1 ± 9.2 years; mean BMI 29.6 ± 3.0 kg/m2). Intra Class Correlation (ICC), Cohen's kappa and Bland Altman plots were used for reliability analyses, while linear regression analyses were performed to assess the factors that were (independently) associated with the reliability.ResultsBody weight was significantly (p < 0.001) under-reported on average by 1.4 kg and height significantly (p < 0.001) over-reported by 0.7 cm. Consequently, BMI was significantly (p < 0.001) under-reported by 0.7 kg/m2. WC was significantly (p < 0.001) over-reported by 1.1 cm. Although the self-reporting of anthropometrics was biased, ICC's showed high concordance between measured and self-reported values. Also, substantial agreement existed between the prevalences of BMI status and increased WC based on measured and self-reported data. The under-reporting of BMI and body weight was significantly (p < 0.05) affected by measured weight, height, SES and smoking status, and the over-reporting of WC by age, sex and measured WC.ConclusionResults suggest that self-reported BMI and WC are satisfactorily accurate for the assessment of the prevalence of overweight/obesity and increased WC in a middle-aged overweight working population. As the accuracy of self-reported anthropometrics is affected by measured weight, height, WC, smoking status and/or SES, results for these subgroups should be interpreted with caution. Due to the large power of our study, the clinical significance of our statistical significant findings may be limited.Trial RegistrationISRCTN04265725
Highlights
In population studies, body mass index (BMI) is generally calculated from self-reported body weight and height
High average intra-class correlation coefficients were found for the anthropometric measures in the different subgroups (ICC range males: 0.96– 0.99; females: 0.91–0.99; low age group: 0.96–0.99; high age group: 0.95–1.00; overweight: 0.92–0.99; obese: 0.95–0.99; low socio-economic status (SES): 0.95–1.00; high SES: 0.96–1.00; smoking: 0.93–0.99; non-smoking: 0.96–1.00; medication use: 0.98–1.00; no medication use:0.95–1.00; low frequency of weighing oneself: 0.96–0.99; high frequency of weighing oneself: 0.95–1.00) (see Additional file 1: Average intra-class correlation coefficients by sex, and by age, BMI groups, SES groups, smoking status, medication use and frequency of weighing oneself groups)
BMI = Body Mass Index; waist circumferences (WC) = waist circumference * Results on WC are based on a sub-sample of 250 subjects (176 males and 74 females)
Summary
Body mass index (BMI) is generally calculated from self-reported body weight and height. The aim of our study is to evaluate the accuracy of self-reported weight, height and waist circumference among a Dutch overweight (Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m2) working population, and to determine to what extent the accuracy was moderated by sex, age, BMI, socio-economic status (SES) and health-related factors. The high and still increasing prevalence of overweight (Body Mass Index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) seriously threaten public health worldwide. Knowledge on body weight and height in a population is relevant to be able to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity, and to identify subgroups that are at increased risk to develop overweight and obesity-related health problems and to die prematurely. Regarding self-reported WC, the few studies addressing this issue found no effect of SES on the misreporting of WC [14,17,20]
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