Revista de Saúde Pública (Dec 2006)
Validade do peso e da altura auto-referidos: o estudo de Goiânia Validity of self-reported weight and height: the Goiânia study, Brazil
Abstract
OBJETIVO: Avaliar a validade do peso e altura referidos no diagnóstico da obesidade e identificar características sociodemográficas e individuais que podem constituir viés de informação. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal populacional realizado na cidade de Goiânia em 2001. Em entrevista domiciliar com 1.023 indivíduos de 20-64 anos, foram coletadas informações sociodemográficas e sobre peso e altura referidos. Na ocasião, os indivíduos foram pesados e medidos. Foram calculadas diferenças entre médias, coeficiente de correlação e de medidas referidas e aferidas, segundo idade, índice de massa corporal, escolaridade, renda e altura. RESULTADOS: Homens e mulheres superestimaram a altura (p0,05). O comportamento de supestimar a altura foi influenciado pela idade, escolaridade, altura e índice de massa corporal. Embora o índice obtido a partir dos dados referidos tenha sido subestimado (pOBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of self-reported weight and height at the time of diagnosing obesity, and to identify the sociodemographic and individual characteristics that might be a source of information bias. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional population-based study carried out in the city of Goiânia in 2001. Interviews were conducted with 1,023 individuals aged 20-64 years, in their homes, to collect sociodemographic and self-reported weight and height information. On the same occasion, weight and height measurements were made on these individuals. The mean differences and correlation coefficients between self-reported and measured data were calculated according to age, body mass index (BMI), schooling, income and height. RESULTS: Both the men and women overestimated their heights (p0.05). The behavior of overestimating height was influenced by age, schooling, height and body mass index. Although this index obtained from the self-reported data was underestimated (p<0.05), by 0.27 kg/m² and 0.67 kg/m² for men and women respectively, the measured and self-reported data presented a high degree of agreement. Both the sensitivity and specificity of the self-reported body mass index were high, in relation to identifying the measured index. CONCLUSIONS: In epidemiological studies for monitoring the prevalence of excess weight in populations, self-reported weights and heights constitute reliable data, which gives validity to the methodology utilized.
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