How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?

Abstract

Self-reported measures of height and weight may be used in studies of the elderly although systematic reporting errors may bias effect estimates. As overweight individuals tend to under-report and the short and underweight tend to over-report, studies investigating associations of disease with height and weight using self-reported measures will underestimate effects. The weak associations between childhood and adult BMI indicate that associations between childhood adiposity and adult cardiovascular disease found in this cohort may reflect the specific effect of childhood overweight, rather than its persistence into adulthood. This suggests that avoidance of adiposity may be as important in childhood as in adulthood.

How accurate are self‐reported height, weight, and BMI among community‐dwelling elderly Japanese?: Evidence from a national population‐based study

“…The results of our study are generally consistent with previous studies conducted in Western countries, some of which had the same age subgroups as our study population. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In previous studies, self-reported height, weight, and BMI were similarly strongly correlated with measured height, weight, and BMI, and the correlations were usually more than 0.90.…”

“…Likewise, weight underreporting was also documented, with women and heavier people more likely to underreport their weight. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Weight underreporting in previous studies ranged on average from 0.54-0.76 kg for men and 0.85-2.50 kg for women. This study had similar findings for women, with underreporting falling at the lower end of the range, but the discrepancies were larger for men.…”

“…The overall height overreporting and weight underreporting could also be based on memories of height and weight measurements taken when the subjects were youngerwhen they were taller and weighed less, as other studies have indicated. 6,21 As a result of height overreporting and weight underreporting, BMI derived from self-reported height and weight are generally underestimated compared with measurement-based BMI. There is some evidence that, depending on whether report-based BMI or measurement-based BMI is used, the association between obesity and morbidity may differ to some extent, with the use of report-based BMI typically resulting in a stronger association with diseases than if measurement-based BMI were used.…”

“…Email: vanessa.yong@nihon-u.ac.jp with a result of an overall underestimation of BMI. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The overreporting of height tends to be more prevalent among shorter people and men while the underreporting of weight is more prevalent among heavier people and women. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The accuracy of reporting height and weight has also been found to decrease in older age groups.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] The overreporting of height tends to be more prevalent among shorter people and men while the underreporting of weight is more prevalent among heavier people and women. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The accuracy of reporting height and weight has also been found to decrease in older age groups. 8,9 A systematic review of studies compared direct measurements with self-reported height, weight, and BMI to assess the accuracy of self-reports; the review showed that most of the studies involve Western nations, younger age groups (e.g.…”