Validity assessment of self-reported weight and its correction process among Mexican adult women of reproductive age.

Lucia Hernández-Barrera,Cinthya Muñoz-Manrique,Simón Barquera,Belem Trejo Valdivia,Martha Maria Téllez-Rojo,Frank T Spradley

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235967

Lucia Hernández-Barrera, Cinthya Muñoz-Manrique + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235967

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Abstract

ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the agreement between self-reported weight (SRW) and measured weight (MW) in adult women of reproductive age, identify characteristics associated with the difference between SRW and MW (DW), and develop a correction procedure for SRW.MethodsWe used data from 3,452 non-pregnant or non-lactating adult women who participated in the Mexican Family Life Survey. Standardized personnel asked women about their weight before measuring weight and height. We conducted a Bland-Altman analysis for agreement and adjusted linear regression models for sociodemographic characteristics.ResultsMean DW was -0.59±3.21 kg. Difference varied according to Body Mass Index (BMI) and region of residence (p< 0.05). Correction model for log-MW, included the log-SRW, age group (18–34 and 35–49 years), interaction term (age × SRW), log-height, Southern region, and living with a partner. Based on self-reported weight, we observed an overestimation of underweight/normal weight prevalence and an underestimation of overweight or obesity prevalence.ConclusionSRW has limitations to be considered as an alternative to MW among women of reproductive age with specific characteristics. Our proposed correction equation may decrease SRW imprecision improving the estimation of overweight and obesity. We suggest that studies consider and adjust the possible bias associated with weight misreporting on health outcomes.

Highlights

Weight in women of reproductive age is useful to evaluate gestational weight gain, perinatal adverse outcomes, and postpartum weight retention [1]
We found that the agreement between self-reported weight (SRW) and measured weight (MW) among adult Mexican women of reproductive age differs according to some features
Our results indicate that women with obesity tend to have a higher under-reported weight, increasing the probability of classifying them with excessive gestational weight gain, because the difference between SRW and MW before pregnancy may scope to -5 kg

Summary

Methods

The MxFLS is a longitudinal and multi-thematic survey with national, urban, rural, and regional representativeness It has collected data regarding socioeconomic and demographic indicators at an individual, household and community level in three waves: 2002 (MxFLS-1), 2005–2006 (MxFLS-2), and 2009– 2012 (MxFLS-3). The MxFLS-3 included 8,105 women aged 18–49 years; 4,609 of them were excluded from our research due to pregnancy or lactation (n = 1,002), lack of self-reported weight (n = 3,373), measured weight (n = 230), or measured height (n = 4). We excluded those women for whom the absolute value of the difference between the SRW and MW was higher than ±4 standard deviations (n = 44) [13].

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