Body image perception as an approach to assess nutritional status

Objective. To compare body image perception with body mass index (BMI) calc ulated from the weighs and size declared by subjects, and to evaluate its u sefulness in classifying the nutritional status. Material and methods. A re presentative sample of the Spanish population was selected consisting of 51 7 males and 483 females older than 15 years of age. Variables were sex, age , educational level, BMI and perceived body image. Differences between grou ps were estimated with the chi(2) test. Specificity and sensitivity of the agreement between body mass and image were assessed. Results. The nutrition al status for both indicators revealed higher overweight prevalence in male s and obesity in females,which increase with age and decrease with greater educational level. Perceived body image differed between sexes, and among a ges and educational levels (P<0.01). Sensitivity and specificity as well as positive and negative predictive values were higher than 0.90 in subjects belonging to extreme cases. Precision was higher for sensitivity than for s pecificity. In all groups, categorization was better in females than in mal es and so was Spearman's correlation (p<0.001), The Kendall W coefficient r anked high for both groups. Conclusions. Body image allowed the identificat ion of individuals with normal, excessive or lean nutrition. This indicator can therefore be useful in epidemiological surveys, considering some limit ations for individualized diagnoses.