Abstract
Background
Obesity has been described as an epidemic and a major public health concern globally. Distorted self-perceived weight status can negatively impact an individual's decision to lose weight as well as adoption of healthful weight management attitudes. This study described self-perceived weight status among adults working in civil service departments in Tamale, Ghana, and compared it to their classification based on WHR. It also examined associations of distorted self-perceived weight status with weight loss attitudes, socio-demographic variables and knowledge levels on the health effects of overweight and obesity.Methods
This cross-sectional study was undertaken from January 2011 to July 2011 among a sample of 186 civil servants living in Tamale. Out of the sample, 121 were men and 65 were women. Participants' self-perceived weight status, socio-demographic and weight loss attitudes were assessed by means of a 10-item questionnaire. Participants' waist and hip circumferences were measured with appropriate tools and computed into waist hip ratio (WHR) and classified based on WHO classifications.Results
More than 80% of the participants were aged below 40 years. Generally, 56.5% (n = 105) participants had normal weight and 31.2% (n = 58) were centrally obese. The proportion of participants being centrally obese was higher in women compared to men (p Conclusions
Self-perceived and WHR measured weight status of participants did not conform. Distorted self-perceived weight status was not associated to weight loss attitudes but to being overweight/obese, being younger (<40 years) and having inadequate knowledge on the health effects of overweight/obesity. Educating people on accurate weight perception and the health effects of overweight/obesity should be considered in designing public health strategies to curb the rising prevalence of overweight/obesity and other non-communicable diseases in Ghana.
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