BACKGROUND

Weight misperception (WM) is common among adults, and it is associated with adverse health outcomes. Research has shown that various factors are associated with weight misperception. Turkish adult population data for weight misperception and related factors do not exist.

METHODOLOGY

We conducted a face-to-face cross-sectional descriptive survey in the general internal medicine outpatient clinics of two academic centers. Perception was analyzed both verbally and visually. Misperception was defined for both verbal and visual scales as being thinner than reality misperceptions (TTRM), fatter than reality misperceptions (FTRM), or either of them (ETFTRM). Demographics, anthropometrics, and social determinants of health were analyzed in different misperception groups.

RESULTS

250 patients participated in the study. The median (interquartile range) age was 55 (14), and the BMI was 28.2 (6.9) for females and 26.9 (4.4) for males. 81.2% had ETFTRM, 45.2% had TTRM, and 22.4% had FTRM. Age and BMI were higher in the ETFTRM and TTRM groups, while education level was lower in both. Multivariate logistic regression showed that higher age, higher BMI, and lower education levels were associated with higher TTRM.

DISCUSSION

WM is common among the Turkish adult population. Similar to the previous studies, aging, high BMI, and low education levels are associated with weight misperception. However, in contrast to previous studies, gender, marital status, and employment were not associated with weight misperception in our cohort.