Self-Reported Versus Measured Height and Weight in Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Menopausal Women

Abstract

Background: Height and weight information is commonly used in clinical trials and in making therapeutic decisions in medical practice. In both settings, the data are often obtained by self-report. If erroneous, this practice could lead to inaccuracies in estimating renal function and medication doses or to inaccurate outcomes of research studies. Previous publications have reported lack of reliability of self-reported weight and height in the general population but have not addressed age-specific and ethnicity-specific subgroups in the U.S. population. The inaccuracy of self-reported weight and height could be particularly significant in times of considerable changes in body weight, such as at menopause, which is often associated with weight gain. Methods: We assessed the validity of self-reported height and weight in 428 women within the first 5 years of menopause, 70.6% of whom were Hispanic. Results: Participants overestimated their height by 2.2 -3.5 cm (mean -standard deviation [SD]) and underestimated their weight by 1.5 -2.9 kg. As a group, based on self-reported measures, 33.3% were misclassified with respect to body mass index (BMI) category, and the difference between measured BMI and self-reported BMI was similar between Hispanic white and non-Hispanic white women, positively related to measured weight, and inversely related to measured height, years from menopause, and multiple parity. Conclusions: From the public health perspective, inaccurate self-report could lead to a considerable underestimation of the current obesity prevalence rates. In our study population, the prevalence of obesity (BMI ‡ 30 kg/m

Accuracy of Self-reported Weight in Hispanic/Latino Adults of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos

“…Nonetheless findings from previous studies 15,21,26 of Hispanic/Latinos supported the expectation of under-reporting of weight in this study. In HCHS/SOL the slight mean over-reporting of weight may reflect its size or study design (e.g.…”

“…Hispanic/Latinos represented 17% of the adult population in 2013 8 and at least half were born outside of the United States (U.S.). 9 BMI categories, 10–12 age, 5,11–14 gender, 5,12 reproductive factors, 15 household income, 12 education, employment and nativity 11 have been described as predictors of weight misreporting in Hispanic/Latinos. Although U.S. Hispanic/Latinos are a diverse ethnic group and may have variable perceptions towards ideal body size 16 , to our knowledge no previous population-based study has described the accuracy of self-reported weight relative to measured weight across more than one Hispanic/Latino background (or heritage).…”

Validity of self-reported anthropometry in adult Mexican women

“…In Hispanic menopausal women, mean differences of direct minus self-reported measures were 1.5 kg for weight, -2.5 cm for height and 1.4 kg/m2 for BMI. 19 While the errors in self-reported weight we found were similar than those for Hispanic women living in the United States 20 and for Colombian women, 21 errors in self-reported height we found were higher than those reported in the aforementioned studies (0.6 to 1.2 cm). In our study, the possibility that the errors in self-reported anthropometry correspond partially to real changes in weight over time cannot be disregarded.…”

Agreement between measured height, and height predicted from ulna length, in adult patients in Bloemfontein, South Africa

“…9 If conscious, the patient could self-report his/her height, but systematic reviews of studies estimating the accuracy of self-reported height found that patients tend to overestimate their true height. 10,11 In the South African setting, patients and/or their family members often have no idea of the patient's height or weight, while language barriers also hamper communication. Estimating patients' height by eyeballing, as many health care professionals do, has also been shown to be very inaccurate.…”