Objective vs self ‐report assessment of height, weight and body mass index: Relationships with adiposity, aerobic fitness and physical activity

SummaryResearchers, policymakers and clinicians commonly use height and weight to determine body mass index (BMI) and classify weight status. Self ‐report measures are widely used but often result in misreported height and weight and, consequentially, underestimation of BMI and—potentially—weight status misclassification. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in objective and self‐reported height, weight and BMI values a nd to find whether discordance is associated with other anthropometric measures, fitness and physical activity. Data were collected from college students through: (a) a pre‐consultation online questionnaire where participants self‐reported gender, height and weight; (b) an objective fitness asse ssment that assessed height, weight, body fat percentage, abdominal girth and predicted aerobic fitness; and (c) a post‐assessment electronic survey that assessed physical activity. Parametric and non‐parametric analyses examined differences between groups. Objective and self‐reported height a nd weight data were collected from 1061 participants, 224 of whom also provided physical activity data. Women significantly under‐reported weight (P =  .003,η2 = 0.02), and both genders over ‐reported height (P<  .001,η2≥ 0.07), resulting in a significant difference between BMIs calculated using the different measures (P<  .001,η2≥ 0.07) and the weight status misclassification of ~15% of participants. Significant difference...
Source: Clinical Obesity - Category: Eating Disorders & Weight Management Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research