Abstract
Purpose. This study reported on body type perception of people aged ${\geq}19years$, regardless of gender, and on its association with disease morbidity and the quality of life and aimed to observe the effects of stress on body weight perception, disease morbidity, and the quality of life. Methods. The data from 218,899 persons aged ${\geq}19years$ who were respondents to the 2010 Community Health Survey were finally analyzed. A designated program was used to perform complex sample analysis; chi-square test was carried out to determine body type perception by the general characteristics and disease status and analyze health-related behavior and weight control behavior by body type perception, and multiple logistic regression was used to observe the effects of body type perception on mental health and the quality of life. Results. 34.9% of all the respondents misperceived their body type and females were more likely to misperceive their body type. The older they were, the more poorly they perceived their body type; those perceiving their body type poorly were significantly more susceptible to both hypertension and diabetes. When correction was made in relation to gender, age, and so on, those perceiving their body type excessively were more susceptible to hypertension (1.43[1.367-1.050]) and diabetes morbidity (1.36[1.294-1.428]). Body type perception affected the quality of life: the respondents perceiving their body type poorly (0.91[0.884-0.940]) or excessively (0.75[0.720-0.770]) showed lower quality of life than those perceiving their body type correctly. Conclusions. Distorted body type perception affected disease morbidity and the quality of life: the respondents excessively perceiving their body type were significantly more susceptible to both hypertension and diabetes and those perceiving their body type excessively or poorly showed lower quality of life than those perceiving it correctly. It is therefore necessary to make multilateral efforts to cultivate correct body type perception.
