title: Do they know what is at risk? Health risk perception among the obese.
abstract: The perception of health risks and risky health behaviors are closely associated. In this paper, we investigate the accuracy of health risk perceptions among obese individuals, aged 50-62 years. We compare subjective risk perceptions for various diseases elicited in the American Life Panel to individual's objective risks of the same diseases. We find that obese individuals significantly underestimate their 5-year risks of arthritis or rheumatism and hypertension, whereas they systematically overestimate their 5-year risks of a heart attack and a stroke. Obese individuals are thus aware of some but not all obesity-related health risks. For given diseases, we document substantial heterogeneities in the accuracy of expectations across individuals.
authors: Department of Economics, University of Munich, Munich, Germany; Center for Economic Studies and Institute for Economic Research (CESifo), Munich, Germany; Munich Center for the Economic of Aging (MEA), Munich, Germany.
authors: Joachim
authors: J
authors: Winter
authors: Amelie
authors: A
authors: Wuppermann
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001168:Arthritis / Q000453:epidemiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: health risk; obesity; subjective expectations