The DOI matches its Crossref record; 76 of the 80 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A comparison of direct vs. self‐report measures for assessing height, weight and body mass index: a systematic review
Abstract
Summary: Obesity is a rapidly increasing public health problem, with surveillance most often based on self‐reported values of height and weight. We conducted a systematic review to determine what empirical evidence exists regarding the agreement between objective (measured) and subjective (reported) measures in assessing height, weight and body mass index (BMI). Five electronic databases were searched to identify observational and experimental studies on adult populations over the age of 18. Searching identified 64 citations that met the eligibility criteria and examined the relationship between self‐reported and directly measured height or weight. Overall, the data show trends of under‐reporting for weight and BMI and over‐reporting for height, although the degree of the trend varies for men and women and the characteristics of the population being examined. Standard deviations were large indicating that there is a great deal of individual variability in reporting of results. Combining the results quantitatively was not possible because of the poor reporting of outcomes of interest. Accurate estimation of these variables is important as data from population studies such as those included in this review are often used to generate regional and national estimates of overweight and obesity and are in turn used by decision makers to allocate resources and set priorities in health.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“both the BRFSS and NHIS rely on self-reported height and weight, which underestimates obesity prevalence7”
From Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults From Rural and Urban Areas of the United States: Findings From NHANES (2005‐2008) (2012) · cites this paper as [7]
Citations
Cites
Assessing the quality of reports of randomized clinical trials: Is blinding necessary?
Jadad, A. R., Moore, R. A., Carroll, D., Jenkinson, C., Reynolds, D. J. M., Gavaghan, D. J., & McQuay, H. J. (1996) · Controlled Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/0197-2456(95)00134-4 · Cited by 17,582
Downs, S. H., & Black, N. (1998) · Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.52.6.377 · Cited by 8,252
Evaluating non-randomised intervention studies
Deeks, J., Dinnes, J., D'Amico, R., Sowden, A., Sakarovitch, C., Song, F., Petticrew, M., & Altman, D. (2003) · Health Technology Assessment · doi:10.3310/hta7270 · Cited by 2,907
Dowdall, G. W., Singleton, R. A., Straits, B. C., Straits, M. N., & McAllister, R. J. (1989) · Teaching Sociology · doi:10.2307/1317936 · Cited by 2,821
Validity of self-reported height and weight in 4808 EPIC–Oxford participants
Spencer, E. A., Appleby, P. N., Davey, G. K., & Key, T. J. (2002) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1079/phn2001322 · Cited by 1,082
Self-reported weight and height
Rowland, M. (1990) · The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/52.6.1125 · Cited by 994
Effects of Age on Validity of Self-Reported Height, Weight, and Body Mass Index
KUCZMARSKI, M. F., KUCZMARSKI, R. J., & NAJJAR, M. (2001) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(01)00008-6 · Cited by 965
The Economic Costs Associated With Physical Inactivity and Obesity in Canada: An Update
Katzmarzyk, P. T., & Janssen, I. (2004) · Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1139/h04-008 · Cited by 643
COMPARISON OF SELF-REPORTED AND MEASURED HEIGHT AND WEIGHT
Palta, M., Prineas, R. J., Berman, R., & Hannan, P. J. (1982) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113294 · Cited by 641
The accuracy of self-reported weights
Stunkard, A. J., & Albaum, J. (1981) · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · doi:10.1093/ajcn/34.8.1593 · Cited by 624
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Tjepkema M, 2005, Measured Obesity. Adult Obesity in Canada: Measured Height and Weight. Nutrition: Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey.
- Shields M, 2005, Measured Obesity. Overweight Canadian Children and Adolescents. Nutrition: Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey.
- Adlaf EM, 1994, A Comparison of Telephone and Personal Interview Surveys for Estimating Alcohol and Other Drug Use
- St‐Pierre M, 2004, Mode effects in the Canadian Community Health Survey: A comparison of CAPI and CATI. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association Meeting: Survey Research Methods.
- 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199811)24:3<267::aid-eat4>3.0.co;2-k · DOI
- Kuskowska‐Wolk A, 1992, Relationship between questionnaire data and medical records of height, weight and body mass index, Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 16, 1
- 10.1002/1098-108x(200101)29:1<59::aid-eat9>3.0.co;2-# · DOI
- Quiles IJ, 1996, [Validity of notified anthropometric data for determining the prevalence of obesity]. [Spanish], Med Clinica, 106, 725
- Brunet MEI, 2003, Development and validation of the Screening Test for at Risk Individuals for Eating Disorders (STARVED), Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 63, 2804
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 501–600 of 1,003
Lilleborge, M., Falk, R. S., Sørlie, T., Ursin, G., & Hofvind, S. S. H. (2021) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.33680 · Cited by 43
“It is well known that weight is usually underreported while height is overreported; hence both contributing bias in the same direction to underreported values for BMI.(42) Self-reported smoking is usually underestimated.”
BackgroundDoctor shopping by overweight and obese patients is associated with increased healthcare utilization
Gudzune, K. A., Bleich, S. N., Richards, T. M., Weiner, J. P., Hodges, K. A., & Clark, J. M. (2013) · Obesity · doi:10.1002/oby.20189 · Cited by 43
“Self-reported of these measures is biased, yet reasonably accurate (39).”
BackgroundBarnidge, E. K., Baker, E. A., Schootman, M., Motton, F., Sawicki, M. A., & Rose, F. (2015) · Health Education Research · doi:10.1093/her/cyv041 · Cited by 44
Ternouth, A., Collier, D. A., & Maughan, B. (2009) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-7-46 · Cited by 43
“We recognise that there may be some inaccuracies in self-reported body weight at the age 30 sweep [45], although the adults in this cohort were younger and may consequently have fewer selfreporting errors than have been found in studies of older adults [46].”
ResultAlmajwal, A. M. (2015) · Ecology of Food and Nutrition · doi:10.1080/03670244.2015.1004400 · Cited by 47
“The literature provides evidence of the reliability of self-reported height and weight values (Chiolero, Peytremann-Bridevaux, and Paccaud 2008; Connor Gorber et al. 2007; Dekkers et al. 2008; De Vogli et al. 2014; Pasalich et al. 2013).”
BackgroundPrevalence and correlates of being overweight or obese in college
Odlaug, B. L., Lust, K. A., Wimmelmann, C. L., Chamberlain, S. R., Mortensen, E. L., Derbyshire, K. L., Christenson, G., & Grant, J. E. (2015) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2015.01.029 · Cited by 43
Logue, J., Allardice, G., Gillies, M., Forde, L., & Morrison, D. S. (2014) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003747 · Cited by 47
“Some studies include self-reported weights(11) even though these are likely to be significantly underestimated.(12) Weight loss programmes Strengths and limitations of this study”
BackgroundMethodRussell, A., Gillespie, S., Satya, S., & Gaudet, L. (2013) · Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada · doi:10.1016/s1701-2163(15)30836-7 · Cited by 43
Backonja, U., Hediger, M. L., Chen, Z., Lauver, D., Sun, L., Peterson, C. M., & Louis, G. M. B. (2017) · Journal of Women s Health · doi:10.1089/jwh.2016.6128 · Cited by 43
Neermark, S., Holst, C., Bisgaard, T., Bay‐Nielsen, M., Becker, U., & Tolstrup, J. S. (2018) · European Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/eurpub/cky187 · Cited by 43
Franz, C. E., Xian, H., Lew, D., Hatton, S. N., Puckett, O. K., Whitsel, N. A., Beck, A. I., Dale, A. M., Fang, B., Fennema‐Notestine, C., et al. (2019) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.03.003 · Cited by 45
“Waist circumference is sometimes considered a better indicator of adiposity than BMI (Connor-Gorber et al., 2007), but BMI was our only measure with multiple timepoints, which allowed for trajectory and longitudinal analyses.”
BackgroundAbdominal and gluteofemoral size and risk of liver cancer: The liver cancer pooling project
Florio, A. A., Campbell, P. T., Zhang, X., Zeleniuch‐Jacquotte, A., Wactawski‐Wende, J., Smith‐Warner, S. A., Sinha, R. R., Simon, T. G., Sesso, H. D., Schairer, C., et al. (2019) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.32760 · Cited by 45
BMI Trends, Socioeconomic Status, and the Choice of Dataset
Grabner, M. (2012) · Obesity Facts · doi:10.1159/000337018 · Cited by 46
Bottone, F. G., Hawkins, K., Musich, S. A., Cheng, Y., Ozminkowski, R. J., Migliori, R. J., & Yeh, C. S. (2013) · The journal of nutrition health & aging · doi:10.1007/s12603-013-0022-y · Cited by 45
“Like the Medicare HOS dataset, our study relied on self-reported height and weight data, which may slightly underestimate BMI (44).”
Jørgensen, A. W., Lundstrøm, L. H., Wetterslev, J., Astrup, A., & Gøtzsche, P. C. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111964 · Cited by 40
“Despite a trend that self-reported weight is underestimated [22], this strategy may still be reliable when comparing intervention and control groups, because the bias introduced is likely to be similar in both groups.”
Oliver, L., Schuurman, N., Hall, A., & Hayes, M. (2011) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-959 · Cited by 42
“Measures of physical activity and obesity were obtained using self-reports which have limitations compared to direct measures [57].”
MethodIndividual and environmental factors associated for overweight in urban population of Brazil
Mendes, L. L., Nogueira, H. G. D. S. M., Padez, C. M. P., Ferrão, M. M., & Velásquez-Meléndez, G. (2013) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-988 · Cited by 42
“These data have been widely used in epidemiological studies [20] and have been previously validated for Brazilian adults.”
MethodDieringer, P., Klass, E. M., Caine, B., & Smith‐Gagen, J. (2014) · Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology · doi:10.1007/s00432-014-1792-2 · Cited by 42
de Munter, J. S., Tynelius, P., Magnusson, C., & Rasmussen, F. E. (2015) · Scandinavian Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1177/1403494815569865 · Cited by 42
“It is a limitation that our data on height and weight were self-reported, because it is well-known that obese people are prone to underreport their weight and unhealthy food intake and to over-report their physical activity [30].”
BackgroundPetróczi, A., Uvacsek, M., Nepusz, T., Deshmukh, N., Shah, I., Aidman, E., Barker, J., Tóth, M., & Naughton, D. P. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0018804 · Cited by 42
“A systematic review [23] revealed that this bias is not limited to socially undesirable behaviours; it also extends to simple measures such as height and weight with a tendency towards overand under-reporting, respectively [23].”
BackgroundBody Image, Body Mass Index, and Body Composition: In Young Adults
Streeter, V. M., Milhausen, R. R., & Buchholz, A. C. (2012) · Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research · doi:10.3148/73.2.2012.78 · Cited by 42
Low Gestational Weight Gain and Risk of Adverse Perinatal Outcomes in Obese and Severely Obese Women
Bodnar, L. M., Pugh, S. J., Lash, T. L., Hutcheon, J. A., Himes, K. P., Parisi, S. M., & Abrams, B. F. (2016) · Epidemiology · doi:10.1097/ede.0000000000000535 · Cited by 47
Weight gain during incarceration: systematic review and meta‐analysis
Gebremariam, M. K., Nianogo, R. A., & Arah, O. A. (2017) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/obr.12622 · Cited by 41
“In addition, studies indicate that self-perceptions of weight and self-reports of weight status do not always correlate with actual weight status and that different sociodemographic characteristics including gender affect these self-perceptions and reports (60,61).”
BackgroundAizawa, T. (2019) · Economics & Human Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2019.06.003 · Cited by 42
Balantekin, K. N., Grammer, A. C., Fitzsimmons‐Craft, E. E., Eichen, D. M., Graham, A. K., Monterubio, G. E., Firebaugh, M., Karam, A. M., Sadeh‐Sharvit, S., Goel, N. J., et al. (2021) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101482 · Cited by 42
“Although self-reported height and weight are mostly reliable proxies for measured height and weight (Rowland, 1990), individuals with obesity tend to underreport weight (Gorber, Tremblay, Moher, & Gorber, 2007).”
BackgroundHuai, P., Liu, J., Ye, X., & Li, W. (2022) · Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine · doi:10.3389/fcvm.2022.816144 · Cited by 42
Gender differences in the impact of stressful life events on changes in body mass index
Udo, T., Grilo, C. M., & McKee, S. A. (2014) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.08.036 · Cited by 42
“…generally suitable given high correlation between self-reported and measured height and weight (Kuczmarski, Kuczmarski, & Najjar, 2001; Spencer et al., 2002), this comes at the cost of potentially under-estimating the prevalence rates of overweight/obesity categories (Gorber et al., 2007).”
BackgroundChau, N., Chau, K., Mayet, A., Baumann, M., Legleye, S., & Falissard, B. (2013) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-815 · Cited by 40
“We found that (after adjustment for gender and age) underweight (assessed with BMIm) was associated with a 5-fold greater likelihood of BMI over-reporting, and that overweight/obesity was linked to an 11-fold likelihood of BMI under-reporting, in line with the literature [7,9-16].”
BackgroundResultInfluentialPre-Pregnancy Overweight Status between Successive Pregnancies and Pregnancy Outcomes
Hoff, G. L., Cai, J., Okah, F. A., & Dew, P. C. (2009) · Journal of Women s Health · doi:10.1089/jwh.2008.1290 · Cited by 43
“The literature suggests that, in general, women underreport weight and overreport height, 33,34 and these discrepancies may influence calculation of BMI.”
Maatouk, I., Wild, B., Herzog, W., Wesche, D., Schellberg, D., Schöttker, B., Müller, H., Rothenbacher, D., Stegmaier, C., & Brenner, H. (2012) · Journal of Hypertension · doi:10.1097/hjh.0b013e328353d81b · Cited by 41
“A systematic review regarding the comparison of direct versus self-reported measures of BMI showed that there are varying trends for under-reporting weight and over-reporting height [44].”
BackgroundHoran, M. K., McGowan, C. A., Gibney, E. R., Donnelly, J. M., & McAuliffe, F. M. (2014) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu6072946 · Cited by 41
“Although maternal weight was objectively measured during pregnancy and there was no difference in weight loss from measured late pregnancy weight to reported 3 months postpartum weight between the control and intervention groups, it is well-accepted that women, particularly those who are overweight or obese, tend to u…”
BackgroundPark, J. Y., Mitrou, P. N., Keogh, R. H., Luben, R., Wareham, N. J., & Khaw, K. (2011) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.61 · Cited by 41
Estimates of obesity trends in Brazil, 2006–2009
de Moura, E. C., & Claro, R. M. (2011) · International Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1007/s00038-011-0262-8 · Cited by 41
“…64 studies, has also shown trends of underreporting for weight and BMI and over-reporting for height (Gorber et al. 2007), with variations in the degree of underreporting for men and women and according the characteristics of the population being examined in the original study (Gorber et al. 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialPubertal Height Growth and Adult Height in Cystic Fibrosis After Newborn Screening
Zhang, Z., Lindstrom, M. J., Farrell, P. M., Lai, H. J., & with the Wisconsin Cystic Fibrosis Neonatal Screening Group (2016) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2015-2907 · Cited by 41
“7 Genotype, N (%)b F508/F508 52 (51) 10 (45) 42 (68) 0 (0) 21 (64) 21 (72) F508/other 42 (41) 9 (41) 19 (31) 14 (78) 12 (36) 7 (24) Other/other 8 (8) 3 (14) 1 (2) 4 (22) 0 (0) 1 (3) Parental heightsc Maternal, %tile 61 ± 31 44 ± 35 65 ± 29 72 ± 32 64 ± 29 61 ± 28 Paternal, %tileb 61 ± 28 53 ± 31 69 ± 27 40 ± 22 74 ± 2…”
Changes in diagnosed diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity prevalence in US counties, 2004-2012
Geiss, L. S., Kirtland, K. A., Lin, J., Shrestha, S. S., Thompson, T., Albright, A. L., & Gregg, E. W. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0173428 · Cited by 41
Massive datasets and machine learning for computational biomedicine: trends and challenges
Андреевич, К. А., Pardalos, P. M., & Karakitsiou, A. (2018) · Annals of Operations Research · doi:10.1007/s10479-018-2891-2 · Cited by 46
“E.g., Ng et al. (2014) studied prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults with a presence of self-reported values of such parameters as weight, height, body mass index, etc. which tend to be biased (Gorber et al. 2007).”
BackgroundBody mass index and height and risk of cutaneous melanoma: Mendelian randomization analyses
Dusingize, J. C., Olsen, C. M., An, J., Pandeya, N., Law, M. H., Thompson, B. S., Goldstein, A. M., Iles, M. M., Webb, P. M., Neale, R. Ε., et al. (2020) · International Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/ije/dyaa009 · Cited by 43
“For example, many epidemiological studies rely on self-reported weight and height measurements(8,12,34) which are subject to misclassification.(35,36) In addition, few studies adjusted for the confounding effect of sun exposure,(6,37) the major risk factor for melanoma.”
BackgroundMikhail, M. E., Carroll, S. L., Clark, D. A., O’Connor, S. M., Burt, S. A., & Klump, K. L. (2021) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000719 · Cited by 43
van Zutven, K., Mond, J., Latner, J., & Rodgers, B. (2015) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2014.100 · Cited by 39
Larose, S. L., Kpelitse, K. A., Campbell, M. K., Zaric, G. S., & Sarma, S. (2015) · Economics & Human Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2015.09.007 · Cited by 40
Pearce, A., Rougeaux, E., & Law, C. (2015) · International Journal for Equity in Health · doi:10.1186/s12939-015-0187-6 · Cited by 40
Avatar body dimensions and men's body image
Cacioli, J.-P., & Mussap, A. J. (2014) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.11.005 · Cited by 47
Velásquez-Meléndez, G., Mendes, L. L., & Padez, C. M. P. (2013) · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · doi:10.1590/0102-311x00078112 · Cited by 40
The Association Between Body Mass Index Class, Sickness Absence, and Presenteeism
Janssens, H., Clays, E., Kittel, F., Bacquer, D. D., Casini, A., & Braeckman, L. (2012) · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine · doi:10.1097/jom.0b013e31824b2133 · Cited by 40
Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life in Patients with McArdle Disease
Munguía‐Izquierdo, D., Santalla, A., & Lucía, A. (2014) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0000000000000458 · Cited by 42
“Self-reported methods of BMI can be biased because of underreporting of weight and overreporting of height (14).”
MethodPrevalence rate of Metabolic Syndrome in a group of light and heavy smokers
Cena, H., Tesone, A., Niniano, R., Cerveri, I., Roggi, C., & Turconi, G. M. C. (2013) · Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome · doi:10.1186/1758-5996-5-28 · Cited by 40
Kershaw, K. N., & Albrecht, S. S. (2014) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-283 · Cited by 41
“Studies show that BMI based on self-report tends to be under-reported [50].”
BackgroundBerrigan, D. A., Tatalovich, Z., Pickle, L. W., Ewing, R., & Ballard-Barbash, R. R. (2014) · International Journal of Health Geographics · doi:10.1186/1476-072x-13-3 · Cited by 40
“Self report of obesity and smoking behavior are also subject to measurement error, but these errors are better understood than measurement error in physical activity [68,69].”
BackgroundFamily meals and body weight in US adults
Sobal, J., & Hanson, K. L. (2011) · Public Health Nutrition · doi:10.1017/s1368980011000127 · Cited by 40
“Under-reporting of weight((36)) would be expected to underestimate the relationships observed in the present analysis.”
BackgroundResultIkeda, N. (2016) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148297 · Cited by 40
Rudisill, C., Charlton, J., Booth, H. P., & Gulliford, M. C. (2016) · Clinical Obesity · doi:10.1111/cob.12144 · Cited by 41
“It is also one of few papers to use clinically measured height and weight values in the calculation of BMI rather than self-reported values that are prone to reporting bias (22).”
BackgroundWords will never hurt me? Preferred terms for describing obesity and binge eating
Lydecker, J. A., Galbraith, K., Ivezaj, V., White, M. A., Barnes, R. D., Roberto, C. A., & Grilo, C. M. (2016) · International Journal of Clinical Practice · doi:10.1111/ijcp.12835 · Cited by 40
Self-Report and Direct Measures of Health: Bias and Implications
Gorber, S. C., & Tremblay, M. S. (2016) · Springer series on epidemiology and public health · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-29577-0_14 · Cited by 40
Self-citationObesity and the Social Withdrawal Syndrome
Rotenberg, K. J., Bharathi, C. K. K., Davies, H. A., & Finch, T. (2017) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2017.03.006 · Cited by 40
Varying age-gender associations between body mass index and urban greenspace
Sander, H. A., Ghosh, D., & Hodson, C. B. (2017) · Urban forestry & urban greening · doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2017.05.016 · Cited by 40
“First, individuals often underestimate their weight, but trends are consistent and data remain useful for describing spatial patterns (Morris et al., 2015, Gorber et al., 2007).”
BackgroundFlores-Ortiz, R., Malta, D. C., & Velásquez-Meléndez, G. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213254 · Cited by 40
Flexible age-period-cohort modelling illustrated using obesity prevalence data
Dobson, A. J., Hockey, R., Chan, H., & Mishra, G. D. (2020) · BMC Medical Research Methodology · doi:10.1186/s12874-020-0904-8 · Cited by 40
“obese people tend to underestimate weight more than healthy weight people [26, 27].”
BackgroundAssociations between sitting time and weight in young adult Australian women
Cocker, K. A. D., van Uffelen, J. G. Z., & Brown, W. J. (2010) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2010.07.009 · Cited by 42
Talbot, D., & Mahlberg, J. (2021) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2021.1877143 · Cited by 39
Campitelli, M. A., Rosella, L. C., & Kwong, J. C. (2013) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2013.57 · Cited by 39
Ljungvall, Å., Gerdtham, U., & Lindblad, U. (2013) · The European Journal of Health Economics · doi:10.1007/s10198-013-0545-5 · Cited by 39
Short sleep mediates the association between long work hours and increased body mass index
Magee, C., Caputi, P., & Iverson, D. (2010) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-010-9287-3 · Cited by 42
“For example, in both males and females self-reported data can lead to an underestimation of BMI which is most pronounced in females (Connor Gorber et al. 2007).”
BackgroundOverweight and obesity among adults in Germany
RKI (2017) · PubMed Central · doi:10.17886/rki-gbe-2017-038 · Cited by 40
“A BMI calculated through self-reported information thus tends to be lower than those gained through direct measurements [9].”
BackgroundAdjusting for BMI in analyses of volumetric mammographic density and breast cancer risk
Hudson, S., Hjerkind, K. V., Vinnicombe, S., Allen, S. D., Trewin-Nybråten, C. B., Ursin, G., dos‐Santos‐Silva, I., & Stavola, B. L. D. (2018) · Breast Cancer Research · doi:10.1186/s13058-018-1078-8 · Cited by 39
“Previous research suggests that women tend to understate their weight and overstate their height, particularly those who are overweight or obese [22, 23], although a recent study found that women attending BreastScreen Norway reported weight and height within 1 kg/cm of directly measured values [24].”
Physical Activity and the Incidence of Obesity in Young African-American Women
Rosenberg, L. A., Kipping-Ruane, K., Boggs, D. A., & Palmer, J. R. (2013) · American Journal of Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2013.04.016 · Cited by 40
Lydecker, J. A., & Grilo, C. M. (2016) · Obesity · doi:10.1002/oby.21439 · Cited by 39
“Regarding height and weight specifically, reported and measured anthropometric data are consistently highly correlated but have higher reported height and lower reported weight compared with measured values (31).”
BackgroundKorda, R., Joshy, G., Paige, E., Butler, J. R. G., Jorm, L. R., Liu, B. C., Bauman, A. E., & Banks, E. (2015) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118599 · Cited by 38
“Although people tend to underestimate their weight and overestimate their height [43], and consequently underestimate BMI, a validation study involving participants in the 45 and Up Study revealed that the mean difference between self-reported and measured BMI was not large (on average-0.”
BackgroundBarnes, R. A., Edghill, N., Mackenzie, J. D., Holters, G., Ross, G. P., Jalaludin, B. B., & Flack, J. R. (2013) · Diabetic Medicine · doi:10.1111/dme.12207 · Cited by 38
A Pooled Analysis of Body Mass Index and Mortality among African Americans
Cohen, S. S., Park, Y., Signorello, L. B., Patel, A. V., Boggs, D. A., Kolonel, L. N., Kitahara, C. M., Knutsen, S. F., Gillanders, E. M., Monroe, K. R., et al. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0111980 · Cited by 38
“There is evidence that under-reporting of weight and over-reporting of height results in systematically lower BMI values from self-report compared to measured values [23] and that this underestimation may bias associations between BMI and mortality [24].”
BackgroundSelf-reported and measured weights and heights among adults in Seattle and King County
Tang, W., Aggarwal, A., Moudon, A. V., & Drewnowski, A. (2016) · BMC Obesity · doi:10.1186/s40608-016-0088-2 · Cited by 38
“Objective anthropometric measures of height and weight, obtained using trained staff and standardized equipment, are the most commonly gathered metrics [5].”
BackgroundLiljeberg, E., Andersson, A., Malmberg, K. B., & Nydahl, M. C. (2019) · Nutrition in Clinical Practice · doi:10.1002/ncp.10243 · Cited by 40
THE IMPACT OF MACROECONOMIC CONDITIONS ON OBESITY IN CANADA
Latif, E. (2013) · Health Economics · doi:10.1002/hec.2946 · Cited by 38
Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Lifestyle Habits Among Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses
Fair, J. M., Gulanick, M., & Braun, L. T. (2009) · The Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing · doi:10.1097/jcn.0b013e3181a24375 · Cited by 38
Determinants of Height in Adolescent Girls With Anorexia Nervosa
Prabhakaran, R., Misra, M., Miller, K. K., Kruczek, K. R., Sundaralingam, S., Herzog, D. B., Katzman, D. K., & Klibanski, A. (2008) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2007-2820 · Cited by 38
Pieniak, Z., Pérez-Cueto, F. J. A., & Verbeke, W. (2009) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2009.08.009 · Cited by 37
Brown, J. C., Lin, L. L., Segal, S., Chu, C., Haggerty, A. E., Ko, E. M., & Schmitz, K. H. (2014) · Supportive Care in Cancer · doi:10.1007/s00520-014-2306-0 · Cited by 37
Tikellis, G., Ponsonby, A., Wells, J. C. K., Pezic, A., Cochrane, J., & Dwyer, T. (2012) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.261 · Cited by 37
Feasibility of using self-reported patient data in a national diabetes register
Løvaas, K. F., Cooper, J. G., Sandberg, S., Røraas, T., & Thue, G. (2015) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-015-1226-0 · Cited by 37
“Self-reported weight was lower, and this has also been reported in another study that compared self-reported and actual measurements [15].”
ResultDo Dads Make a Difference? Family Feeding Dynamics and Child Fussy Eating
Harris, H. A., Jansen, E., Mallan, K. M., Daniels, L., & Thorpe, K. J. (2018) · Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics · doi:10.1097/dbp.0000000000000566 · Cited by 37
Bruns, G. L., & Carter, M. M. (2014) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.12.006 · Cited by 41
Moving forward by looking back: lessons learned from long-lost lifestyles
Tremblay, M. S., Esliger, D., Copeland, J. L., Barnes, J. D., & Bassett, D. R. (2008) · Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism · doi:10.1139/h08-045 · Cited by 43
Self-citationBrestoff, J. R., Perry, I. J., & den Broeck, J. V. (2011) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-331 · Cited by 37
“This view has been echoed in the literature [16,24] despite limited evidence [4,17,18].”
BackgroundParents and the media. Causes and consequences of parental media socialization
Notten, N. (2011) · Radboud Repository (Radboud University) · Cited by 37
De Ridder, J., Julián-Almárcegui, C., Mullee, A., Rinaldi, S., Van Herck, K., Vicente-Rodríguez, G., & Huybrechts, I. (2016) · Cancer Causes & Control · doi:10.1007/s10552-015-0709-y · Cited by 36
“Only studies in which the anthropometry had been directly measured were included, as self-reported height, weight and waist circumference data may be subject to bias [9, 10].”
BackgroundSleep duration, sleep quality and the risk of being obese: Evidence from the Australian panel survey
Keramat, S. A., Alam, K., Basri, R., Siddika, F., Siddiqui, Z. H., Okyere, J., Seidu, A., & Ahinkorah, B. O. (2023) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2023.06.012 · Cited by 44
Body Mass Index Is Associated with Gene Methylation in Estrogen Receptor–Positive Breast Tumors
Hair, B. Y., Troester, M. A., Edmiston, S. N., Parrish, E., Robinson, W. R., Wu, M. C., Olshan, A. F., Swift‐Scanlan, T., & Conway, K. (2015) · Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention · doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-14-1017 · Cited by 36
“Use of a categorical rather than continuous coding for BMI also minimized potential bias due to underestimation of weight (21).”
Infertility patients' knowledge of the effects of obesity on reproductive health outcomes
Cardozo, E. R., Neff, L. M., Brocks, M. E., Ekpo, G. E., Dune, T. J., Barnes, R. B., & Marsh, E. E. (2012) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2012.08.020 · Cited by 36
Beliefs as barriers to healthy eating and physical activity
Ross, A., & Melzer, T. (2015) · Australian Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/ajpy.12103 · Cited by 36
Keyes, L. E., Mather, L. F., Duke, C. B., Regmi, N., Phelan, B., Pant, S., Starling, J. M., McElwee, M. K., Cole, D., McConnell, T., et al. (2016) · Journal of Travel Medicine · doi:10.1093/jtm/taw052 · Cited by 36
“Prior studies indicate that it is likely that individuals underestimated their weight and overestimated their height, thus their calculated BMI was likely under reported.(12) In addition these data were obtained from individuals who were recruited on a volunteer basis for a study requiring them to check-in and have re…”
BackgroundLópez‐Gil, J. F., Román‐Viñas, B., Aznar, S., & Tremblay, M. S. (2022) · Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports · doi:10.1111/sms.14132 · Cited by 34
Self-citationYong, V., & Saito, Y. (2011) · Geriatrics and gerontology international/Geriatrics & gerontology international · doi:10.1111/j.1447-0594.2011.00759.x · Cited by 36
The Psychology of Lifestyle: Promoting Healthy Behaviour
Thirlaway, K., & Upton, D. (2009) · University of Canberra Research Portal · Cited by 38
Korda, R., Liu, B. C., Clements, M., Bauman, A. E., Jorm, L. R., Bambrick, H., & Banks, E. (2012) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2012.155 · Cited by 36
Bot, M., Spijkerman, A. M. W., Twisk, J. W. R., & Verschuren, W. M. M. (2010) · European Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s10654-009-9419-7 · Cited by 38
“Furthermore, some were partly based upon self-reported weight (recall) [16, 20], which tends to underestimate real weight [21].”
BackgroundMajer, I. M., Nusselder, W. J., Mackenbach, J. P., & Kunst, A. E. (2011) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2011.46 · Cited by 37
“Similarly, people tended to underreport weight and over-report height (27).”
BackgroundThe influence of calorie and physical activity labelling on snack and beverage choices
Masic, U., Christiansen, P., & Boyland, E. J. (2017) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.01.007 · Cited by 38
Sievert, L. L., Murphy, L., Morrison, L. A., Reza, A. M., & Brown, D. E. (2013) · Maturitas · doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2013.08.007 · Cited by 36
Leyvraz, M., Ortega, N., & Chioléro, A. (2022) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu15010075 · Cited by 35
“In adults, weight tends to be underestimated and height tends to be overestimated [4,5].”
BackgroundDeCleene, N. K., Kahn, E., Yuan, C.-W., Gakidou, E. E., Mokdad, A. H., Murray, C. J. L., Johnson, C. O., & Roth, G. A. (2026) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2025.26817 · Cited by 41
Cooley, M. E., Finn, K. T., Wang, Q., Röper, K., Morones, S., Shi, L., Litrownik, D., Marcoux, J. P., Zaner, K. S., & Hayman, L. L. (2012) · Cancer Nursing · doi:10.1097/ncc.0b013e31825e4359 · Cited by 35
“Self-reported assessments used to measure lifestyle behaviors are inferior to objective measures.(74) Future studies should incorporate objective measures especially within the context of intervention trials designed to decrease multiple risk behaviors.”
Method
Metadata
- Authors
- Gorber, S. C., Tremblay, M., Moher, D., & Gorber, B.
- Affiliations
- Statistics Canada (CA)
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Gorber, S. Connor
- Venue
- Obesity Reviews
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2007-01-26
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 307-326
- ISSN
- 1467-7881 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-789X
- OpenAlex
- W2011137594
- Cited by
- 1,945
- References
- 80
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 80 · 2023: 69 · 2022: 77 · 2021: 98 · 2020: 104 · 2019: 113 · 2018: 114 · 2017: 127 · 2016: 142 · 2015: 135 · 2014: 145 · 2013: 172 · 2012: 127
- FWCI
- 11.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Obesity Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Body Composition Measurement Techniques
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Reliability and Agreement in Measurement
- Keywords
- self-reported height, self-reported weight, body mass index, obesity surveillance, measurement agreement, adults
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Body Height, Body Weight, Body Weights and Measures, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Self Disclosure, Reproducibility of Results, Body Mass Index, Sex Distribution
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
