Self-reported and measured weight, height and body mass index (BMI) in Italy, the Netherlands and North America.

BACKGROUND

Self-reported values of height and weight are used increasingly despite warnings that these data-and derived body mass index (BMI) values-might be biased. The present study investigates whether differences between self-reported and measured values are the same for populations from different regions, and the influences of gender and age.

METHODS

Differences between self-reported and measured weights, heights and resulting BMIs are compared for representative samples of the adult population of Italy, the Netherlands and North America.

RESULTS

We observed that weight is under-reported (1.1 ± 2.6 kg for females and 0.4 ± 3.1 kg for males) and height over-reported (1.1 ± 2.2 cm for females and 1.7 ± 2.1 cm for males), in accordance with the literature. This leads to an overall underestimation of BMI values (0.7 ± 1.2 kg/m(2) or 2.8% for females and 0.6 ± 1.1 kg/m(2) or 2.3% for males). When BMI values are assigned to four categories (from 'underweight' to 'obesity'), 11.2% of the females and 12.0% of the males are categorized too low when self-reported weights and heights are used, with an extreme of 17.2% for Italian females. Older people tend to relatively over-report height and under-report weight, but the magnitude differs between countries and gender.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that, apart from a general overestimation of height and underestimation of weight resulting in an underestimation of BMI, substantial differences are observed between countries, between females and males and between age groups.