TY - JOUR
T1 - A secondary analysis examining the concordance of self-perception of weight and actual measurement of body fat percentage
T2 - The CRONICAS Cohort Study
AU - Bui, Anthony L.
AU - Moscoso, Miguel G.
AU - Bernabe-Ortiz, Antonio
AU - Checkley, William
AU - Gilman, Robert H.
AU - Smeeth, Liam
AU - Miranda, J. Jaime
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Rodrigo M. Carrillo-Larco and Alvaro Taype-Rondan for their guidance during initial conceptualizing of this project, as well as Victoria F. Bachman for her support with copyediting. Funding This project was funded in whole with Federal funds from the United States National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN268200900033C. ALB was further supported by the UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America. WC was further supported by a Pathway to Independence Award (R00HL096955) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. LS was a Senior Clinical Fellow and ABO a Research Training Fellow in Public Health and Tropical Medicine (103994/Z/ 14/Z), both funded by Wellcome Trust. JJM acknowledges receiving additional support from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (HQHSR1206660), DFID/MRC/Wellcome Global Health Trials (MR/M007405/1), Fogarty International Center (R21TW009982, D71TW010877), Grand Challenges Canada (0335-04), International Development Research Center Canada (106887, 108167), Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI CRN3036), Medical Research Council (MR/P008984/1, MR/P024408/ 1, MR/P02386X/1), National Cancer Institute (1P20CA217231), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (HHSN268200900033C, 5U01HL114180, 1UM1HL134590), National Institute of Mental Health (1U19MH098780), Swiss National Science Foundation (40P740-160366), Wellcome Trust (074833/Z/ 04/Z, 093541/Z/10/Z, 107435/Z/15/Z, 103994/Z/14/Z, 205177/Z/16/Z) and the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF15-1224).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s).
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Background: Individuals' self-perceptions of weight often differ from objective measurements of body fat. This study aimed to 1) measure agreement between self-perceptions of weight and objective measurement of body fat by bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) among Peruvian adults; and 2) quantify the association between body fat and a) baseline self-perceptions of weight and b) whether a participant underestimated their weight status. Methods: Longitudinal data from the CRONICAS Cohort Study of 3181 Peruvian adults aged 35-years and older were used. BIA measurements of body fat were categorized across four nominal descriptions: low weight, normal, overweight, and obese. Kappa statistics were estimated to compare BIA measurements with baseline self-perceptions of weight. To quantify the association between body fat over time with both baseline self-perceptions of weight and underestimation of weight status, random effects models, controlling for socioeconomic and demographic covariates, were employed. Results: Of the 3181 participants, 1111 (34.9%) were overweight and 649 (20.4%) were obese at baseline. Agreement between self-perceived and BIA weight status was found among 43.1% of participants, while 49.9% underestimated and 6.9% overestimated their weight status. Weighted kappa statistics ranged from 0.20 to 0.31 across settings, suggesting poor agreement. Compared to perceiving oneself as normal, perceiving oneself as underweight, overweight, or obese was associated with - 4.1 (p < 0.001), + 5.2 (p < 0.001), and + 8.1 (p < 0.001) body fat percentage points, respectively. Underestimating one's weight status was associated with having 2.4 (p < 0.001) body fat percentage points more than those not underestimating only after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic covariates. Conclusions: Half of study participants were overweight or obese. There was poor agreement between self-perceptions of weight with BIA measurements of body fat, indicating that individuals often believe they weigh less than they actually do. Underestimating one's weight status was associated with having more body fat percentage points, but was only statistically significant after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Further research should be conducted to investigate how self-perceptions of weight can support clinical and public health interventions to curb the obesity epidemic.
AB - Background: Individuals' self-perceptions of weight often differ from objective measurements of body fat. This study aimed to 1) measure agreement between self-perceptions of weight and objective measurement of body fat by bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) among Peruvian adults; and 2) quantify the association between body fat and a) baseline self-perceptions of weight and b) whether a participant underestimated their weight status. Methods: Longitudinal data from the CRONICAS Cohort Study of 3181 Peruvian adults aged 35-years and older were used. BIA measurements of body fat were categorized across four nominal descriptions: low weight, normal, overweight, and obese. Kappa statistics were estimated to compare BIA measurements with baseline self-perceptions of weight. To quantify the association between body fat over time with both baseline self-perceptions of weight and underestimation of weight status, random effects models, controlling for socioeconomic and demographic covariates, were employed. Results: Of the 3181 participants, 1111 (34.9%) were overweight and 649 (20.4%) were obese at baseline. Agreement between self-perceived and BIA weight status was found among 43.1% of participants, while 49.9% underestimated and 6.9% overestimated their weight status. Weighted kappa statistics ranged from 0.20 to 0.31 across settings, suggesting poor agreement. Compared to perceiving oneself as normal, perceiving oneself as underweight, overweight, or obese was associated with - 4.1 (p < 0.001), + 5.2 (p < 0.001), and + 8.1 (p < 0.001) body fat percentage points, respectively. Underestimating one's weight status was associated with having 2.4 (p < 0.001) body fat percentage points more than those not underestimating only after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic covariates. Conclusions: Half of study participants were overweight or obese. There was poor agreement between self-perceptions of weight with BIA measurements of body fat, indicating that individuals often believe they weigh less than they actually do. Underestimating one's weight status was associated with having more body fat percentage points, but was only statistically significant after adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Further research should be conducted to investigate how self-perceptions of weight can support clinical and public health interventions to curb the obesity epidemic.
KW - Chronic disease
KW - Obesity
KW - Peru
KW - Weight self-perceptions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063755495&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s40608-019-0229-5
DO - 10.1186/s40608-019-0229-5
M3 - Original Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063755495
SN - 2052-9538
VL - 6
JO - BMC Obesity
JF - BMC Obesity
IS - 1
M1 - 9
ER -