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Associations between weight/shape overvaluation, sociodemographic features and BMI: 10-year time trends

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the prevalence of overvaluation across sociodemographic features and weight status over time.

Methods

The data included sequential cross-sectional surveys with representative samples of the adolescent and adult (15 years or older) population in South Australia. Five surveys that assessed overvaluation were conducted in the years 2005 (n = 3047), 2008 (n = 3034), 2009 (n = 3007), 2015 (n = 3005) and 2016 (n = 3047). Overvaluation was assessed by structured interview based on the Eating Disorder Examination. To examine unique effects of demographic variables on the likelihood to report overvaluation, and also to examine whether this varied as a function of time, a multivariate binary logistic regression was computed.

Results

Across survey years, participants who were more likely to endorse overvaluation were female (2005: OR 2.85, CI 2.04–3.99; 2008/9: OR 1.74, CI 1.50–2.01; 2015/6: OR 1.54, CI 1.34–1.76), had a BMI > 30 (2005: OR 3.93, CI 1.49–10.34; 2008/9: OR 2.22, CI 1.31–3.78; 2015/6: OR 2.09, CI 1.19–3.67), had left school (2015/6: OR 1.36, CI 1.14–1.63), and lived in the country (2015/6: OR 1.95, CI 1.69–2.24). Being in the oldest age group was protective against endorsing overvaluation in each survey year. There was also a main effect of survey year, with participants in the 2015/6 survey more likely to endorse overvaluation (p < 0.001).

Conclusions

Female, young and obese people were more likely to endorse overvaluation; however, the prevalence of overvaluation increased significantly in all sociodemographic and BMI groups in since 2005–2016.

Evidence-based medicine

Level IV, evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without the intervention, such as case studies.

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Availability of data and materials

The dataset used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

Funding for the eating disorder questions in the surveys was received from internal James Cook and Western Sydney University grants to Professor Phillipa Hay; Dr. Mitchison is funded by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (grant number: GNT1158276); University of Sydney internal research funds of Professor Stephen Touyz; Dr. Scott Griffiths is funded by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (Grant Number: 1121538); and Dr. Santana is funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES/Brazil).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Josué de Castro Institute of Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Danilo Dias Santana & Gloria Valeria da Veiga

  2. School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia

    Danilo Dias Santana & Deborah Mitchison

  3. Department of Psychology, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

    Deborah Mitchison

  4. Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Scott Griffiths

  5. Group of Obesity and Eating Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Jose Carlos Appolinario

  6. School of Psychology, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Stephen Touyz

  7. Translational Health Research Institute, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia

    Phillipa Hay

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  1. Danilo Dias Santana
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  7. Phillipa Hay
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danilo Dias Santana.

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Conflict of interest

Drs. Deborah Mitchison and Scott Griffiths are members of the executive board of the Australian and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (2017-) and have received research grants from the NHMRC. Professor Jose Carlos Appolinario receives/has received research grants, consultancy fees, and advisory board fees from Shire Pharmaceuticals. He has prepared also an Educational Material about Binge Eating Disorder for Shire Pharmaceuticals. He receives/has received royalties/honoraria from Artmed Panamericana Editora. He also received a research grant from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq). Professor Gloria Valeria da Veiga received a research grant from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) and Foundation Carlos Chagas Filho for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). Professor Stephen Touyz receives royalties/honoraria from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw Hill Educational and Biomed Central and has received research grant funding from the NHMRC, ARC and Shire Pharmaceuticals. He has also received an honorarium from Sheppard Pratt. He is the Chair of the Shire BED Australian Advisory Committee on Binge Eating Disorder and has received honoraria/consulting fees and travel grant funding as well. He is a mental health adviser to the Commonwealth Department of Veteran Affairs. Professor Phillipa Hay receives/has received sessional fees and lecture fees from the Australian Medical Council, Therapeutic Guidelines publication, and New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry and royalties/honoraria from Hogrefe and Huber, McGraw Hill Education, and Blackwell Scientific Publications, Biomed Central and Plos Medicine and she has received research grants from the NHMRC and ARC. She is Chair of the National Eating Disorders Collaboration Steering Committee in Australia (2012-) and Member of the ICD-11 Working Group for Eating Disorders (2012–2018) and was Chair Clinical Practice Guidelines Project Working Group (Eating Disorders) of RANZCP (2012–2015). She has prepared a report under contract for Shire Pharmaceuticals in regards to Binge Eating Disorder (BED; July 2017) and Honoria for training Psychiatrists in BED assessment. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

The 2005–2009 surveys were approved by the research ethics committee of the Government of South Australia, Department of Health, and the 2015–2016 surveys were approved by the University of Adelaide Human Research Ethics Committee (H-097-2010).

Informed consent

Adult participants provided verbal rather than written informed consent, due to the practicalities of carrying out a large-scale survey and the low-risk nature of the survey content. For minors (15–17-year old) enrolled in the study, written consent was obtained from the participant’s parent/guardian.

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Santana, D.D., Mitchison, D., Griffiths, S. et al. Associations between weight/shape overvaluation, sociodemographic features and BMI: 10-year time trends. Eat Weight Disord 26, 2001–2009 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-01046-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-020-01046-8

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