Discrepancies between subjective perception and waist-to-height ratio measurement of obesity, and their policy implications.

In social sciences, researchers rely on subjective perceptions of obesity measures to examine the determinants of obesity and the likely effects of obesity on health outcomes. However, subjective perception tends to produce estimation biases. In this study, we investigated the misreporting behavior of individuals regarding obesity using waist-to-height ratio as an objective measurement of obesity. Using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2008-2011, we showed that false-reporting behavior was significantly associated with socio-economic status. Furthermore, we presented that subjective perception of obesity yielded misleading estimates in both the determinants and the consequences of obesity.