Misreporting and misclassification: implications for socioeconomic disparities in body-mass index and obesity

The European Journal of Health Economics : HEPAC : Health Economics in Prevention and Care
Åsa LjungvallUlf Lindblad

Abstract

Body-mass index (BMI) has become the standard proxy for obesity in social science research. This study deals with the potential problems related to, first, relying on self-reported weight and height to calculate BMI (misreporting), and, second, the concern that BMI is a deficient measure of body fat (misclassification). Using a regional Swedish sample, we analyze whether socioeconomic disparities in BMI are biased because of misreporting, and whether socioeconomic disparities in the risk of obesity are sensitive to whether BMI or waist circumference is used to define obesity. Education and income are used as socioeconomic indicators. The overall conclusion is that misreporting and misclassification may indeed matter for estimated educational and income disparities in BMI and obesity. In the misreporting part we find that women with higher education misreport less than those with lower education, leading to underestimation of the education disparity when using self-reported information. In the misclassification part we find that the probability of being misclassified decreases with income, for both men and women. Among women, the consequence is a steeper income gradient when obesity is defined using waist circumference instead o...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 9, 2016·Social Science & Medicine·Petri Böckerman, Terhi Maczulskij
Jun 7, 2014·The European Journal of Health Economics : HEPAC : Health Economics in Prevention and Care·Margareta DackehagMartin Nordin
Sep 1, 2016·Social Science & Medicine·Apostolos Davillas, Michaela Benzeval
Oct 5, 2016·Economics and Human Biology·Sofie PerssonUNKNOWN Swedish Childhood Diabetes Study Group
Dec 7, 2017·Health Economics·Anna Choi, John Cawley
Dec 14, 2017·European Journal of Public Health·Mariëlle A BeenackersCarlijn B M Kamphuis
Oct 14, 2017·American Journal of Men's Health·Mahmoud Suleiman Abu-SamakShady Helmi Awwad
Feb 5, 2019·European Journal of Public Health·Margareta DackehagTherese Nilsson
Apr 23, 2020·Annals of Work Exposures and Health·Lucy A BarnesJeroen Douwes
Aug 1, 2021·The Journal of Infectious Diseases·Nusrat J EpsiUNKNOWN EPICC COVID-19 Cohort Study Group

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