Open AccessAccuracy of self-reported height, weight and BMI in a multiethnic Asian population
Author(s) -
Kumarasan Roystonn,
Edimansyah Abdin,
Rajeswari Sambasivam,
Yunjue Zhang,
Sherilyn Chang,
Saleha Shafie,
Boon Yiang Chua,
Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar,
Siow Ann Chong,
Mythily Subramaniam
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals, academy of medicine, singapore/annals of the academy of medicine, singapore
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.299
H-Index - 60
ISSN - 0304-4602
DOI - 10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.2020183
Subject(s) - medicine , anthropometry , demography , intraclass correlation , confidence interval , body mass index , kappa , population , psychometrics , clinical psychology , linguistics , philosophy , environmental health , sociology
The study assessed whether self-reported height, weight and derived body mass index (BMI)can provide an accurate measure of anthropometric data in a multiethnic adult population in Singapore.Methods: Standardised anthropometric measurements were compared against the self-reported valuesfrom 5,132 adult residents in a cross-sectional, epidemiological survey. Discrepancies in self-reportsfrom measurements were examined by comparing overall mean differences. Intraclass correlations,Cohen’s kappa and Bland-Altman plots with limits of agreement, and sub-analysis by sex and ethnicitywere also explored.Results: Data were obtained from 5,132 respondents. The mean age of respondents was 43.9 years.Overall, the height was overestimated (0.2cm), while there was an underestimation of weight (0.8kg) andderived BMI (0.4kg/m2). Women had a larger discrepancy in height (0.35cm, 95% confidence interval [CI]0.22 to 0.49), weight (-0.95kg, 95% CI -1.11 to -0.79) and BMI (-0.49kg/m2, 95% CI -0.57 to -0.41)compared with men. Height reporting bias was highest among Indians (0.28cm, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.44)compared with Chinese and Malays, while weight (-1.32kg, 95% CI -1.53 to -1.11) and derived BMI(-0.57kg/m2, 95% CI -0.67 to -0.47) showed higher degrees of underreporting among Malays comparedwith Chinese and Indians. Substantially high self-reported versus measured values were obtained forintraclass correlations (0.96–0.99, P<0.001) and kappa (0.74). For BMI categories, good to excellentkappa agreement was observed (0.68–0.81, P<0.0001).Conclusion: Self-reported anthropometric estimates can be used, particularly in large epidemiologicalstudies. However, sufficient care is needed when evaluating data from Indians, Malays and women asthere is likely an underestimation of obesity prevalence.Keywords: Body mass index, epidemiology, public health, self-report, validity