Unidentified complaints and disagreement of weight perception and body mass index among Japanese middle-age adults living in a municipality around the capital

Objective : This study examined the association of unidentified complaints and disagreement between measured and perceived weight status.Methods : The researchers sent questionnaires to 7,293 participants living in a municipality around the capital. All participants were between the ages of 40 and 59 and received the questionnaires after they attended their general health check-ups. The researchers questioned participants about their perceived weight status and categorized them into three groups ; overestimation, appropriate estimation, and underestimation of weight, based on body mass index (BMI).Results and Discussion : Since the researchers excluded 326 unanswered questionnaires from 3,070 returned questionnaires, data from 2,744 (588 male and 2,156 female) subjects were used. Overestimation was observed in 16 males (2.7%) and 315 females (14.6%). Underestimation was observed in 35 males (6.0%) and 25 females (1.2%). Males in the overestimation group (age-BMI-adjusted model, odds ratio (OR) : 3.83, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) : 1.38-10.60 ; lifestyle-adjusted model, OR : 3.17, 95%CI : 1.10-9.14) and the underestimation group (age-BMI-adjusted model, OR : 2.15, 95% CI : 1.04-4.41 ; lifestyle-adjusted model, OR : 2.81, 95%CI : 1.28-6.16) were found to have significantly more unidentified complaints than those with an appropriate weight estimation. Females in the overestimation group were significantly associated with unidentified complaints (age-BMI-adjusted model OR : 1.32, 95%CI : 1.02-1.71).Conclusions : The current study revealed that males in the overestimation and underestimation weight perception groups tended to have unidentified complaints. Additionally, females in the overestimation group also tended to have unidentified complaints.