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- Title
The accuracy of body weight and height recall in middle-aged men.
- Authors
Norgan, N G; Cameron, N
- Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the accuracy of recalled height and weight, and calculated body mass index (BMI), over a 27-37 y period. DESIGN: Comparison of measured height and weight with recalled height and weight 27-37 y later. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and twenty-five men measured aged 18-24 y as physical education students at Loughborough Training College, UK, between 1958 and 1967. RESULTS: Initial body weights were over-estimated by 3.1±4.5 kg and heights by 1.1±1.8 cm, on average. Some 42% (95) of recalls were within 2.5 kg and 79% (178) within 2.5 cm, resulting in 58% (130) of the differences in BMI calculated from recalled and actual heights and weights to be within 1 kg/m². However, 29% (66) of recalls were more than 5 kg and 8% (19) more than 10 kg from the measured values. Weight errors (actual-recalled) were negatively related (r=-0.43, P<0.001) to weight gain over the 27-37 y interval. CONCLUSIONS: Middle-aged men who were formerly physical education students recalled their previous height and weight well, in most cases, 27-37 y later. The bias from recalled data would be to underestimate weight gain by 3 kg and BMI by 1 kg/m², on average. Errors of more than 5 kg in 29% of participants and of more than 10 kg in 8% would be expected to interfere seriously with attempts to show epidemiological relations between early weight based on recall and subsequent outcomes.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; ANTHROPOMETRY; BODY weight; STATURE
- Publication
International Journal of Obesity & Related Metabolic Disorders, 2000, Vol 24, Issue 12, p1695
- ISSN
0307-0565
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/sj.ijo.0801463