The accuracy of self-reported height, weight and BMI in a sample of emerging adult college students across California: an observational study.

BACKGROUND

Self-reported height and weight are pragmatic, lower-cost alternatives for objective measurements but are potentially less accurate. This study examines the accuracy of self-reported measurements in a population of emerging adults.

METHODS

Participants were 603 emerging adult college students aged 18 to 24 who attend public Hispanic-Serving Institutions of higher education in California, USA. The population was heterogeneous by race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic position, and body size. Participants self-reported height and weight; height and weight were then objectively measured during an in-person visit.

RESULTS

Relative to objective measurements, participants, on average, overreported their height by 1.53 cm and underreported their weight by 0.77 kg, leading to an average body mass index (BMI) underestimation of 0.73 kg/m2. The discrepancy between self-report and objective measures significantly differed by gender, race/ethnicity, and weight but not by age, sexual orientation, household poverty status, or disordered eating behaviors. Overall, 23.8% of participants with overweight or obesity would be assigned to a lower-weight BMI category based on their self-reported measurements (including 16.2% to normal weight).

CONCLUSIONS

In this sample of emerging adult college students, we found modest but statistically significant inaccuracies in self-reported height and weight that resulted in some misclassification of BMI-based weight status categories. Expressing self-reported BMI as a numerical value instead of categorically may be one approach to minimize bias. These results may inform bias-correction approaches in future emerging adult studies that lack the resources for in-person objective measures.