Open AccessPerceived weight versus Body Mass Index among urban Aboriginal Australians: do perceptions and measurements match?
Author(s) -
Cunningham Joan,
O'Dea Kerin,
Dunbar Terry,
MapleBrown Louise
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.946
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1753-6405
pISSN - 1326-0200
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00189.x
Subject(s) - overweight , body mass index , waist , obesity , demography , gerontology , medicine , logistic regression , environmental health , sociology , pathology
Objective:To examine the relationship between perceived body weight and measured Body Mass Index (BMI) among urban Aboriginal Australian adults.Methods:We compared responses to a question on perceived weight with BMI based on measured health and weight among 248 Aboriginal volunteers aged ≥15 years who took part in a larger health study in the Darwin area between September 2003 and March 2004. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between socio‐economic, demographic and cultural factors and under‐assessment of weight.Results:Being male and having diabetes were significantly associated with under‐assessment of weight. Despite under‐assessment being common, most participants with a BMI ≥25 – and almost all (>90%) those with BMI≥25 plus high waist circumference – described themselves as overweight.Conclusions:Study participants with BMI≥25 were generally able to classify themselves appropriately as overweight.Implications:Lack of awareness of weight is unlikely to represent a major barrier to engaging Aboriginal people. However, other barriers exist, and both individual‐level and environmental/structural approaches are required to reduce the burden of obesity among Aboriginal Australians.