title: [Perceived and imagined body image distortion: a possible factor for obesity and overweight in Mexicans].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity, as an effect of the nutritional transition in developing countries, has become one of México's greatest public health problems. Body image distortion is one of the possible causes of this socially generalized issue. The aim of this study was to obtain three indicators (the representation of the imagined body, the perceived image of the body, and the body mass index -BMI-) to compare them and know the differences between the real image (BMI) and the other two images.
  
  
  METHODS
  Inaccuracy of body size estimation was measured through a survey with a ranked scale to determine if the sample (n = 579) had body image distortion, what degree of distortion had, and how body image distortion behaved across age groups from 15 to 69 years old.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The age group from 15 to 19 years old was found to be significantly different from all other age groups through a Kruskal-Wallis test. Differences between men and women were found through a Mann-Whitney test. A relation was found between types of body image distortion and the degree of distortion with a multinomial logistic regression model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cultural factors could help to explain these findings. If the inaccuracy of body size estimation can be associated to obese and overweight Mexicans in the future, these results will be critical for the analysis of such an epidemic.
authors: Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría "Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz", Distrito Federal, México. sebastian.bobadilla.s@gmail.com.
authors: Sebastián
authors: S
authors: Bobadilla-Suárez
authors: Alberto
authors: A
authors: López-Avila
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001828:Body Image; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body image; Body mass index; Obesity; Overweight; Self concept