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How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood? / Gunnell, David; Berney, Lee; Holland, Paula et al.
In: International Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2000, p. 456-464.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Gunnell, D, Berney, L, Holland, P, Maynard, M, Blane, D, Frankel, S & Smith, GD 2000, 'How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?', International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 456-464. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/29.3.456

APA

Gunnell, D., Berney, L., Holland, P., Maynard, M., Blane, D., Frankel, S., & Smith, G. D. (2000). How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood? International Journal of Epidemiology, 29(3), 456-464. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/29.3.456

Vancouver

Gunnell D, Berney L, Holland P, Maynard M, Blane D, Frankel S et al. How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood? International Journal of Epidemiology. 2000;29(3):456-464. doi: 10.1093/ije/29.3.456

Author

Gunnell, David ; Berney, Lee ; Holland, Paula et al. / How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?. In: International Journal of Epidemiology. 2000 ; Vol. 29, No. 3. pp. 456-464.

Bibtex

@article{1894c88a47cb4ef2be126ad2e2686eb1,
title = "How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?",
abstract = "Background This paper examines (1) the accuracy of self-reported height, leg length and weight in a group of subjects aged 56–78; (2) whether recent measurement of height and weight influences the accuracy of self-reporting and (3) associations between childhood and adult height, leg length and BMI measured in old age. Methods All 3182 surviving members of the Boyd Orr cohort were sent postal questionnaires in 1997–1998 and a sub-sample (294) was also clinically examined. Results Self-reported height was overestimated and body mass index (BMI), based on reported height and weight, underestimated. The mean difference between self-report and measured values were for height: 2.1 cm in males and 1.7 cm in females; for BMI the difference was –1.3 kg/m2 in males and –1.2 kg/m2 in females. Shorter individuals and older subjects tended to over-report their height more than others. The overweight under-reported their weight to a greater extent. Recent measurement appeared to decrease over-reporting of height but not weight. Correlations between self-report and measured height and BMI were generally over 0.90, but weaker for leg length (r = 0.70 in males and 0.71 in females). Adult height and leg length were quite closely related to their relative values in childhood (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.84), but associations between adult and childhood BMI were weak (r = 0.19 in males and 0.21 in females). Conclusions Self-reported measures of height and weight may be used in studies of the elderly although systematic reporting errors may bias effect estimates. As overweight individuals tend to under-report and the short and underweight tend to over-report, studies investigating associations of disease with height and weight using self-reported measures will underestimate effects. The weak associations between childhood and adult BMI indicate that associations between childhood adiposity and adult cardiovascular disease found in this cohort may reflect the specific effect of childhood overweight, rather than its persistence into adulthood. This suggests that avoidance of adiposity may be as important in childhood as in adulthood. ",
keywords = "Self-report measures , life course epidemiology , Boyd Orr cohort , height , leg length , BMI ",
author = "David Gunnell and Lee Berney and Paula Holland and Maria Maynard and David Blane and Stephen Frankel and Smith, {George D.}",
year = "2000",
doi = "10.1093/ije/29.3.456",
language = "English",
volume = "29",
pages = "456--464",
journal = "International Journal of Epidemiology",
issn = "0300-5771",
publisher = "NLM (Medline)",
number = "3",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - How accurately are height, weight and leg length reported by the elderly, and how closely are they related to measurements recorded in childhood?

AU - Gunnell, David

AU - Berney, Lee

AU - Holland, Paula

AU - Maynard, Maria

AU - Blane, David

AU - Frankel, Stephen

AU - Smith, George D.

PY - 2000

Y1 - 2000

N2 - Background This paper examines (1) the accuracy of self-reported height, leg length and weight in a group of subjects aged 56–78; (2) whether recent measurement of height and weight influences the accuracy of self-reporting and (3) associations between childhood and adult height, leg length and BMI measured in old age. Methods All 3182 surviving members of the Boyd Orr cohort were sent postal questionnaires in 1997–1998 and a sub-sample (294) was also clinically examined. Results Self-reported height was overestimated and body mass index (BMI), based on reported height and weight, underestimated. The mean difference between self-report and measured values were for height: 2.1 cm in males and 1.7 cm in females; for BMI the difference was –1.3 kg/m2 in males and –1.2 kg/m2 in females. Shorter individuals and older subjects tended to over-report their height more than others. The overweight under-reported their weight to a greater extent. Recent measurement appeared to decrease over-reporting of height but not weight. Correlations between self-report and measured height and BMI were generally over 0.90, but weaker for leg length (r = 0.70 in males and 0.71 in females). Adult height and leg length were quite closely related to their relative values in childhood (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.84), but associations between adult and childhood BMI were weak (r = 0.19 in males and 0.21 in females). Conclusions Self-reported measures of height and weight may be used in studies of the elderly although systematic reporting errors may bias effect estimates. As overweight individuals tend to under-report and the short and underweight tend to over-report, studies investigating associations of disease with height and weight using self-reported measures will underestimate effects. The weak associations between childhood and adult BMI indicate that associations between childhood adiposity and adult cardiovascular disease found in this cohort may reflect the specific effect of childhood overweight, rather than its persistence into adulthood. This suggests that avoidance of adiposity may be as important in childhood as in adulthood.

AB - Background This paper examines (1) the accuracy of self-reported height, leg length and weight in a group of subjects aged 56–78; (2) whether recent measurement of height and weight influences the accuracy of self-reporting and (3) associations between childhood and adult height, leg length and BMI measured in old age. Methods All 3182 surviving members of the Boyd Orr cohort were sent postal questionnaires in 1997–1998 and a sub-sample (294) was also clinically examined. Results Self-reported height was overestimated and body mass index (BMI), based on reported height and weight, underestimated. The mean difference between self-report and measured values were for height: 2.1 cm in males and 1.7 cm in females; for BMI the difference was –1.3 kg/m2 in males and –1.2 kg/m2 in females. Shorter individuals and older subjects tended to over-report their height more than others. The overweight under-reported their weight to a greater extent. Recent measurement appeared to decrease over-reporting of height but not weight. Correlations between self-report and measured height and BMI were generally over 0.90, but weaker for leg length (r = 0.70 in males and 0.71 in females). Adult height and leg length were quite closely related to their relative values in childhood (correlation coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.84), but associations between adult and childhood BMI were weak (r = 0.19 in males and 0.21 in females). Conclusions Self-reported measures of height and weight may be used in studies of the elderly although systematic reporting errors may bias effect estimates. As overweight individuals tend to under-report and the short and underweight tend to over-report, studies investigating associations of disease with height and weight using self-reported measures will underestimate effects. The weak associations between childhood and adult BMI indicate that associations between childhood adiposity and adult cardiovascular disease found in this cohort may reflect the specific effect of childhood overweight, rather than its persistence into adulthood. This suggests that avoidance of adiposity may be as important in childhood as in adulthood.

KW - Self-report measures

KW - life course epidemiology

KW - Boyd Orr cohort

KW - height

KW - leg length

KW - BMI

U2 - 10.1093/ije/29.3.456

DO - 10.1093/ije/29.3.456

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 10869317

VL - 29

SP - 456

EP - 464

JO - International Journal of Epidemiology

JF - International Journal of Epidemiology

SN - 0300-5771

IS - 3

ER -