Validation of Recalled Adolescent Body Size with Photographs among a Sample of Young Non-hispanic Black and White Women

Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, Lemke, Colleen, Mentor, Poster Presentation, Project, Public Health, School and College, Student, Veile, Ellen

Colleen Lemke, “Validation of Recalled Adolescent Body Size with Photographs among a Sample of Young Non-hispanic Black and White Women”
Mentor: Ellen Veile, Public Health
Poster #93

Adolescence represents a critical period in obesity development, which is associated with negative health outcomes, including breast cancer. However, adolescent body size is difficult to assess retrospectively without historical health records. In this study, we evaluate self-reported body size at ages 12y and 18y compared to rater determination based on childhood photographs. Methods. Data for this project is from a subset of participants (n=1812 cases; n=1381 controls) in the Young Women’s Health History Study, a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among non-Hispanic Black and White women aged 20-49y. Participants were interviewed and asked to rate their body silhouette at ages 12y and 18y on a modified Stunkard scale consisting of nine body silhouettes ranging from underweight (1) to obesity (9). A percentage of interviewed participants also provided full-length photographs at ages 12y and 18y (36%), which were rated by an evaluator using the same silhouettes (n=226 age 12y, n=293 age 18y photos scored). Specific Aims. To determine the: 1) agreement between self-reported and rater’s assessment of body silhouettes at age 12y; 2) agreement between self-reported and rater’s assessment of body silhouettes at age 18y; and 3) agreement between rater’s assessment of body silhouettes based on photographs and participants’ recalled height and weight (converted to body mass index (BMI)) at age 18y. Agreement between participants and raters was examined using Cohen’s Kappa and bias was evaluated using Bland-Altman analyses. Results. Agreement between self-report and rater’s assessment was slight at age 12y (kappa=0.13) and fair at age 18y (kappa= 0.22). Agreement between rater’s silhouette rating and participant’s recalled BMI at age 18y was fair (kappa=0.21). Conclusions. The results from these analyses will help with further evaluation and association between recalled adolescent body size and risk of breast cancer, as well as future studies of adolescent body size and adult health.