ArticleBMC public health2008
End-digits preference for self-reported height depends on language.
Article in BMC public health, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Reliability of Self-Reported Height and Weight in Children: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study and a Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Assessing the reliability of self-reported weight for the management of heart failure: application of fraud detection methods to a randomised trial of telemonitoring.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2017Trial
- End-digit preference of readings of grip strength measured with analogue-display devices.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Quality of child anthropometric data from SISVAN, Brazil, 2008-2017.Revista de saude publica · 2023Article
- The role of body height as a co-factor of excess weight in Switzerland.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Accuracy of self-reported height, weight, and waist circumference in a general adult Chinese population.Population health metrics · 2016Article
- Using 2 Assessment Methods May Better Describe Dietary Supplement Intakes in the United States.The Journal of nutrition · 2015Article
- Validity of self-reported height and weight in elderly Poles.Nutrition research and practice · 2015Article
- Height and weight bias: the influence of time.PloS one · 2013Article
- Change in bias in self-reported body mass index in Australia between 1995 and 2008 and the evaluation of correction equations.Population health metrics · 2011Article
- Spatial and temporal investigations of reported movements, births and deaths of cattle and pigs in Sweden.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhen individuals report figures, they often prefer to round to specific end-digits (e.g. zero). Such preference has been found in reports of body weight, cigarette consumption or blood pressure measurements. Very little is known about self-reported body height. End-digit preference can distort estimates of prevalence and other statistical parameters. This study examines end-digit preference for self-reported height and how it relates with sex, age, educational level or cultural affiliation.
methodsWe analysed reports of height of 47,192 individuals (aged 15 years or older) living in Switzerland and participating in one of the three population-based Swiss Health Surveys carried out in 1992/93, 1997 and 2002 respectively. Digit preferences were analysed by sex, age group, educational level, survey, smoking status, interview language (only for Swiss nationals) and nationality. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval were calculated by using multivariate logistic regression.
resultsItalian and French nationals (44.1% and 40.6%) and Italian and French Swiss (39.6% and 35.3%) more strongly preferred zero and five than Germans and German Swiss (29.2% and 30.3%). Two, four, six and eight were more popular in Germans and German Swiss (both 44.4%). Compared to German Swiss (OR = 1), for the end-digits zero and five, the OR were 1.50 (1.38-1.63) for Italian Swiss and 1.24 (1.18-1.30) for French Swiss; 1.73 (1.58-1.89) for Italian nationals and 1.61 (1.33-1.95) for French nationals. The end-digits two, four, six and eight showed an opposite pattern.
conclusionDifferent preferences for end-digits depending on language and nationality could be observed consistently in all three national health surveys. The patterns were strikingly similar in Swiss and foreign nationals speaking the same language, suggesting that preferences were specific to language rather than to nationality. Taking into account rounding preferences could allow more valid comparisons in analyses of self-reported data originating from different cultures.
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