Body Weight Misperception and Dissatisfaction Among Overweight and Obese Adult Nigerians

Background: The increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in low- and medium-income countries has a negative impact on overall health. Correct perception of one's body weight is a step in seeking healthy help toward weight reduction in overweight and obese individuals.

Objective: This study was carried out to assess the body weight misperception and dissatisfaction among overweight and obese adults in an urban African setting.

Methods: This study was part of a larger cross-sectional study that was designed to plan an intervention for overweight and obese adults in an urban African setting. For this study, we randomly selected only overweight and obese adults (≥18 years old) who consented to participate in the study from 15 enumeration areas in Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. We followed the World Health Organization guidelines for conducting community surveys in recruiting overweight and obese participants. We assessed body weight perception and dissatisfaction through their responses to the following: "How do you describe your weight?" and "I feel bad about myself because of my weight." Data for this study were collected between November 2012 and March 2013.

Results: We recruited 567 participants, of whom more than half (n=304, 53.6%) misperceived their weight as either underweight or normal weight, and 61.2% (n=186) of whom were women. The strength of agreement between the actual body mass index and weight perception was very poor (κ=.032, SE .015, P=.04). The strongest predictor of weight perception was sex (female) with an odds ratio of 1.63 (95% CI 1.13-2.35). About 41.1% (n=233) of the participants were dissatisfied with their weight, of whom 30.0% (n=70) were men. Age (young adult) was a predictor of weight dissatisfaction with an odds ratio of 2.37 (95% CI 1.62-3.46).

Conclusions: More than half of the participants misperceived their body weight as either underweight or normal weight, and the majority of them were women. More men were not happy with their body weight, and participants in the young adult age group were more dissatisfied with their body weight.