Reliability of self-reported weight and height among State bank employees

Introduction Self-reported weight and height were compared with direct meas urements in order to evaluate the agreement between the two sources. Methods Data were obtained from a cross-sectional study on health status fr om a probabilistic sample of 1,183 employees of a bank, in Rio de Janeiro S tate, Brazil. Direct measurements were made of 322 employees. Differences b etween the two sources were evaluated using mean differences, limits' of ag reement and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results and Conclusion Men and women tended to underestimate their weight w hile differences between self-reported and measured height were insignifica nt. Body mass index (BMI) mean differences were smaller than those observed far weight. ICC was over 0.98 for weight and 0.95 for BMI, expressing clos e agreement. Combining a graphical method with ICC may be useful in pilot s tudies to detect populational groups capable of providing reliable informat ion on weight and height, thus minimizing resources needed for field work.