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Self-perceived vs actual and desired weight and body mass index in adult ambulatory general internal medicine patients: a cross sectional study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Obesity, December 2014
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (78th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (62nd percentile)

Mentioned by

blogs
1 blog
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

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27 Dimensions

Readers on

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36 Mendeley
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Title
Self-perceived vs actual and desired weight and body mass index in adult ambulatory general internal medicine patients: a cross sectional study
Published in
BMC Obesity, December 2014
DOI 10.1186/s40608-014-0026-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kirsten G Mueller, Ryan T Hurt, Haitham S Abu-Lebdeh, Paul S Mueller

Abstract

No study has compared patients' self-reported heights and weights (and resultant self-reported body mass indexes [BMIs]) with their actual heights, weights, and BMIs; their self-perceived BMI categories; and their desired weights and BMIs and determined rates of clinicians' documented diagnoses of overweight and obesity in affected patients in a single patient group. The objectives of this study were to make these comparisons, determine patient factors associated with accurate self-perceived BMI categorization, and determine the frequency of clinicians' documented diagnoses of overweight and obesity in affected patients. A total of 508 consecutive adult general internal medicine outpatients (257 women, 251 men; mean age, 62.9 ± 14.9 years) seen at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, between November 9 and 20, 2009, completed a questionnaire in which they reported their heights, weights, self-perceived BMI categories ("underweight," "about right," "overweight," or "obese"), and desired weights. These self-reported data were compared to actual heights, actual weights, and actual BMI categories (measured after the questionnaire was completed). Overall, 70% of the patients were overweight or obese. The average self-reported weight was significantly lower than the average actual weight (80.3 ± 20.1 kg vs 81.9 ± 21.1 kg; P < .001). The average self-reported BMI was significantly lower than the average actual BMI (27.6 ± 5.7 kg/m(2) vs 28.3 ± 6.1 kg/m(2); P < .001). Overall, 32% of patients had obesity; however, only 6% perceived they were obese. Accuracy of self-perceived BMI category decreased with higher actual BMI category (P < .001 for trend). Female sex, higher education level, smoking status, and lower BMI were associated with higher accuracy of self-perceived BMI category. Desired weight loss increased with higher self-perceived and actual BMI categories (P < .001 for trends). Of the 165 patients who actually were obese, only 40 (24%) had obesity documented as a diagnosis in their medical records by their clinicians. Statistical tests used were the paired t test, the Pearson χ2 test, the Cochrane-Armitage trend test, the Wald test of marginal homogeneity, analysis of variance, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Many obese patients inaccurately perceive their BMI categories; accuracy decreases with increasing BMI. Clinicians should inform patients of their BMIs and prescribe treatment plans for those with overweight and obesity.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 36 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
France 1 3%
South Africa 1 3%
Unknown 34 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 7 19%
Student > Bachelor 4 11%
Professor 4 11%
Researcher 3 8%
Student > Doctoral Student 2 6%
Other 7 19%
Unknown 9 25%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 8 22%
Nursing and Health Professions 4 11%
Social Sciences 3 8%
Neuroscience 2 6%
Computer Science 1 3%
Other 6 17%
Unknown 12 33%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 February 2016.
All research outputs
#5,641,869
of 22,774,233 outputs
Outputs from BMC Obesity
#65
of 184 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76,031
of 356,557 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Obesity
#3
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,774,233 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 75th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 184 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.8. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 64% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 356,557 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 5 of them.