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  • Original Article
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Validity of overweight and obesity in a nation based on self-report versus measurement device data

Abstract

Objective:

To analyze overweight and obesity in a nation by self-report (SR) data and by data about the target person provided via other household members compared to measurement devices (MD). The magnitude of hypothesized under-reporting by the SR data should be estimated with adjustment for age, gender, and education.

Design:

Two cross-sectional studies, nationally representative health examination surveys (response rates: 61.4 and 73.2%, respectively).

Setting:

Adult general population of Germany aged 20–79 years.

Subjects:

Sample 1 included 6806 residents. Samples 2 (n=98 673) and 3 (n=34 960) included residents in the second survey.

Measurements:

In sample 1 MD data were collected, in sample 2 SR data were collected, and in sample 3 body weight and height information was provided from another household member living together with the target person.

Results:

MD data revealed higher proportions of overweight and obesity compared to SR. Among women with body mass index (BMI) 35.00 or higher, the odds ratio (OR) was 3.9 (95% confidence interval, CI, 3.2–4.7), and among men 2.8 (CI, 2.2–3.6) for MD versus SR. Data from other household members also revealed higher proportions of overweight and obesity than SR (OR for BMI 35.00 or higher 2.1, CI, 1.7–2.5, for data from other household members versus SR in women and OR 1.3, CI, 1.1–1.5, in men).

Conclusions:

MD data should be used when providing proportions of overweight and obesity in a nation such as Germany.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by a grant of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant 01 EB 9406) and the Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The data files were provided from the Federal Statistics Office and the Robert-Koch-Institute of the German Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security.

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Correspondence to U John.

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Guarantor: U John.

Contributors: UJ and MH carried out the data analysis. JG and JRT contributed parts of the paper. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and to the writing of the paper.

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John, U., Hanke, M., Grothues, J. et al. Validity of overweight and obesity in a nation based on self-report versus measurement device data. Eur J Clin Nutr 60, 372–377 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602325

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