Journal
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
Volume 65, Issue 10, Pages 1123-1129Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glq096
Keywords
Height; Weight; Body mass index; Elderly; African American
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Funding
- National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health [N01-AG12102, R01 AG12765, R01 AG17559, P30AG028716, K23 AG032867]
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Background. To ascertain accuracy of self-reported height, weight (and hence body mass index) in African American and white women and men older than 70 years of age. Method. The sample consisted of cognitively intact participants at the third in-person wave (1992-1993) of the Duke Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (age 71 and older, N = 1761; residents of five adjacent counties, one urban, four rural). During in-person, in-home interviews using trained interviewers, height and weight were self-reported (and measured later in the same visit using a standardized protocol), and information were obtained on race, sex, and age. Results. Accuracy of self-reported height and weight was high (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.85 and 0.97, respectively) but differed as a function of race and age. On average, all groups overestimated their height; whereas (non-Hispanic) white men and women underestimated their weight, African Americans overestimated their weight. Overestimation of height and weight was more marked in persons 85 years and older. Specificity for overweight (body mass index [kg/m(2)] >= 25) and obesity (body mass index >= 30) ranged from 0.90 to 0.99 for African Americans and whites, but sensitivity was better for African Americans (overweight: 0.81, obesity: 0.89), than for whites (0.66 and 0.57, respectively). Conclusions. Height and weight self-reported by African Americans and whites over the age of 70 can be used in epidemiological studies, with greater caution needed for self-reports of whites, and of persons 85 years of age or older.
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