Parental perception of children's weight in a paediatric primary care setting.
OBJECTIVE
To determine how parents of overweight children perceived their children's weight status compared with actual body mass index (BMI).


METHODS
This descriptive, cross-sectional study assessed parental perception of and concern about weight, diet and physical activity of 3-12-year-olds. BMI values >or=85th and <95th percentile and >or=95th percentile were considered at risk for overweight and overweight respectively. Differences between groups were tested with chi-squared analyses or Fishers exact test as appropriate and further explored using logistic regression analysis.


RESULTS
Questionnaires were completed at 612 health maintenance visits (278 girls). Overall, 15% of both boys and girls were at risk for overweight and 22% of boys and 24% of girls were overweight. Forty-nine per cent of parents recognized their overweight children as overweight. Perceptions were more often correct for parents of girls than boys (63% versus 36%, P < 0.001) and for older compared with younger children (61.7% versus 17.5%, P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Parents of overweight children frequently did not perceive their children as exceeding healthy weight standards. Targeting parental perception as a point of intervention is necessary.
Wald
E R
ER
Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital, Madison, WI 53792, USA. erwald@wisc.edu
Ewing
L J
LJ
Cluss
P
P
Goldstrohm
S
S
Cipriani
L
L
Colborn
D K
DK
Weissfeld
L
L
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000208:ethnology / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016487:Parenting / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents; D010465:Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires