Introduction:

An altered self-perception of nutritional status (NS) is the discrepancy between the objective NS according to body mass index (BMI) and the self-perception. The programmes implemented in response to health promotion and and prevention strategies in Chile, as well as nutritional surveillance of the population, use the BMI as an indicator of NS. This study analyzed the association between an altered self-perception of the NS, quality and lifestyle in Chile.

Methodology:

Analytical cross-sectional study of secondary data of the 2016-2017 National Health Survey (NHS). The NS was determined by BMI and self-perception, and the quality and lifestyles were determined by self-report.

Results:

5,483 participants were included representative of 14,449,868 [95%CI: 13,540,101-15,359,635] residing in Chile ≥15 years. We observed that 51% of the population presented discordance of NS, 47% [95%CI: 46.96-47.04] of the participants with NS mismatch underestimated their NS, and 4.1% [95%CI: 3.3-5.1] overestimated it. Those who had a concordant perceived and objective NS had a better perceived quality of life, better adherence to the Food Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG) and more physical activity. The factors that most influenced the discrepancy in the self-perception of NS were gender (male >30 years) and years of education (<8 years).

Conclusions:

In the population ≥15 years of Chile, the NS discordance was associated with poorer quality of life in the population aged. Therefore, these results suggest the need for greater precision of the indicators used in Chile to assess the NS of the population.

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