Factors Accounting for Obesity and Its Perception among the Adult Spanish Population: Data from 1,000 Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews.

Abstract

Our aim was to go deeper in the self-perception of weight and health status among the Spanish population, together with the connections of familiar relationships, physical activity practice, nutritional habits, and sleep patterns with the presence of obesity. A total of 1,000 subjects were enrolled in April 2017 in a representative adult Spanish population sample. Computer-assisted telephone interviewing was used and self-reported anthropometric data was obtained. The population was composed of 51.3% women, with a mean age of 48 (36-63) years and a BMI of 23.2 (20.3-26.6). Although only 17.7% of subjects with self-reported obesity exhibited the self-perception to suffer from obesity, they referred a bad (16%) or regular (47%) self-perceived health status. Subjects who considered themselves as people with overweight and obesity displayed a BMI of 30.5 (28.7-32.2) and 37.1 (34.8-41.5), respectively. The obesity group displayed the highest percentage (71.9%) of participants with some first-degree relative with overweight or obesity (p The Spanish population has a low self-perception of obesity. Our data also reinforces the strong association between obesity and age, family interactions, usual snacking, and daily consumption of wine or beer.