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Self-Reported Body Weight and Height: An Assessment Tool for Identifying Children with Overweight/Obesity Status and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Clustering

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Abstract

Body mass index (BMI) is commonly used for assessing body fat. Self-reported body weight and height derived BMI (SRDBMI) is a simple, low cost and non-invasive assessment tool and it may be a useful self-reported assessment tool to monitor the prevalence of overweight/obesity in community settings and for epidemiological research. We assessed the agreement of BW and BH between assessor measured and child self-reported values and evaluated the diagnostic ability of SRDBMI to identify children with overweight/obesity status and cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRFs) clustering. A cross-sectional study was conducted in school settings using a cluster sampling method. A total of 1,614 children aged 6–18 years were included in the analysis. Children were given a questionnaire to complete at home prior to the anthropometric measurements and blood taking at the schools. There was almost perfect agreement on BW, BH and BMI between self-reported and measured values [intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from 0.93 (95% CI: 0.93–0.94) to 0.99 (95% CI: 0.98–0.99)]. About half of the children reported their BW and BH absolute values within 1 kg and 2 cm of measured values, respectively. The SRDBMI demonstrated good diagnostic ability for identifying children with overweight/obesity status (sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values ranged from 0.83 to 0.98) and CMRFs clustering (AUC-ROCs values of BMI between measured and self-reported values were close ranging from 0.85 to 0.89). Self-reported BW and BH demonstrated almost perfect agreement with measured values and could substantially identify children with overweight/obesity status and CMRFs clustering.

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Acknowledgments

This study was a sub-study of a large scale Sleep Study and was supported by funding from the Research Grants Council (CUHK4465/06M), and the Shaw College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The funding sources have no conflict of interest and were not involved in the data analyses or the decision to submit the manuscript. The authors would like to thank Dr. Michael HM Chan and Dr. Chung Shun Ho from Department of Chemical Pathology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong for their support and expert advice, the children in this study for their participation and support.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rm 322, 3rd floor, William M.W. Mong Block, The School of Nursing, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Noel P. T. Chan

  2. 7th floor, The Nethersole School of Nursing, Esther Lee Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong

    Kai C. Choi

  3. Department of Paediatrics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    E. Anthony S. Nelson

  4. Clinical Skills Learning Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Rita Y. T. Sung

  5. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Juliana C. N. Chan & Alice P. S. Kong

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  1. Noel P. T. Chan
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  2. Kai C. Choi
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  3. E. Anthony S. Nelson
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  4. Rita Y. T. Sung
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  5. Juliana C. N. Chan
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  6. Alice P. S. Kong
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kai C. Choi.

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Chan, N.P.T., Choi, K.C., Nelson, E.A.S. et al. Self-Reported Body Weight and Height: An Assessment Tool for Identifying Children with Overweight/Obesity Status and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Clustering. Matern Child Health J 17, 282–291 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-0972-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-0972-4

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