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Weight Perceptions Among Overweight and Obese Women: A US‐Mexico Binational Perspective
Author(s) -
Guendelman Sylvia,
RittermanWeintraub Miranda L.,
Fernald Lia C.H.,
KauferHorwitz Martha
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1038/oby.2011.194
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , national health and nutrition examination survey , obesity , odds ratio , demography , gerontology , weight loss , confidence interval , odds , body mass index , environmental health , population , logistic regression , sociology
We examined actual and perceived weight in nationally representative cohorts of adults in Mexico ( n = 9,527) and the United States ( n = 855) using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (waves 2001–2006) and Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey (2006). Actual weight was assessed by health technicians using BMI and perceived weight was collected through self‐report. The prevalence of overweight or obesity (OO) in Mexican women was 72% and in Mexican‐American women was 71%. OO Mexican‐American women were more likely than OO Mexican women to label themselves as “overweight” (86% vs. 64%, P < 0.001), and this difference was significant while controlling for socio‐demographic and weight‐related variables. Among OO women from both populations, those who had been told by a health provider that they were OO were much more likely to perceive themselves as such (odds ratio = 5.3; 95% confidence intervals: 3.8–7.3). Significantly fewer OO women in Mexico than in the United States (13% vs. 42%, P < 0.0001) recalled having been screened for obesity by their health care provider. Weight misperceptions were common in both populations but more prevalent in Mexico, and low screening by health providers may be an important contributor to poor weight control in both countries.