[Mothers' perception of their children's obesity].
OBJECTIVE
Assess mother's perceptions of their children's weight.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study. We included demographic variables and children's height and weight and used a series of sketches to assess the mother's perception. Among overweight or obese children we collected blood samples to determine glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides levels.


RESULTS
Of the 525 children, 52% were female with an average age of 6.4 +/- 3.2 years. Thirteen and 17% of participating children were overweight or obese. There was a higher frequency of obese children if the mother was obese. Fifty seven percent of the mothers correctly assessed their children's weight. Among 357 children with normal weight children, 64% of the mothers perceived their child weight as normal. Of the 72 overweight children, only 29% believed that their child was overweight and of the 90 obese children, 52% of mothers perceived them as obese. Mothers of male children significantly perceived a higher weight for their children than mothers with female children (56 versus 45.6%, p = 0.001). Among overweight and obese children, the frequency of hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia and hipertriglyceridemia was 9, 2.3 and 3.8% respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Half of the mothers that we surveyed failed to perceive their child's weight. A better understanding of how mothers perceive the problem of excess weight in their children is needed in order to achieve success in preventive interventions of childhood obesity.
Unidad de Investigación Clínics y Epidemiológica, Hospital General Regional 20, México. zonanaa@yahoo.com
Abraham
A
Zonana-Nacach
María Elena
ME
Conde-Gaxiola
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015228:Hypertriglyceridemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology; D010465:Perception; D012737:Sex Factors