Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Assessing the accuracy of two proxy measures for BMI in a semi-rural, low-resource setting in Guatemala
Jonathan N Maupin1, Daniel J Hruschka
1School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA. jonathan.maupin@asu.edu.
Background:
Validation studies of self-reported BMI are limited to populations in high-income countries or urban settings. Here, we assess the accuracy of two proxy measures of measured height, weight and BMI - self-reported values and the Stunkard figure scale - in a semi-rural population in Guatemala.
Methods:
Self-reported values and Stunkard figure selection were elicited prior to biometric measurements from a total of 175 non-pregnant women recruited based on a stratified random sample of households, with 92 women providing full data for validation across measures.
Results:
86.3% of participants self-reported weight and 62.3% height. Among those responding, self-reported weight is highly accurate though lower relationships for height contribute to error in reported BMI. The Stunkard scale has a higher response rate (97.1%) and while less accurate in predicting BMI values, more accurately predicts BMI categories.
Conclusions:
Self-reported measures are more accurate than the Stunkard scale in estimating BMI values, while the latter is more accurate in estimating BMI categories. High non-response rates and lower correlations between reported and measured height caution against using self-reported biometric data other than raw weight in low-resource settings.
