title: Source of parental reports of child height and weight during phone interviews and influence on obesity prevalence estimates among children aged 3-17 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We compared parental reports of children's height and weight when the values were estimated vs. parent-measured to determine how these reports influence the estimated prevalence of childhood obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the 2007 and 2008 North Carolina Child Health Assessment and Monitoring Program surveys, parents reported height and weight for children aged 3-17 years. When parents reported the values were not measured (by doctor, school, or home), they were asked to measure their child and were later called back. We categorized body mass index status using standard CDC definitions, and we used Chi-square tests and the Stuart-Maxwell test of marginal homogeneity to examine reporting differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  About 80% (n=509) of the 638 parents who reported an unmeasured height and/or weight participated in a callback and provided updated measures. Children originally classified as obese were subsequently classified as obese (67%), overweight (13%), and healthy weight (19%). An estimated 28% of younger children (<10 years of age) vs. 6% of older children (aged ≥10 years) were reclassified on callback. Having parents who guessed the height and weight of their children and then reported updated values did not significantly change the overall population estimates of obesity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings demonstrate that using parent-reported height and weight values may be sufficient to provide reasonable estimates of obesity prevalence. Systematically asking the source of height and weight information may help improve how it is applied to research of the prevalence of childhood obesity when gold-standard measurements are not available.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Pediatrics, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. asheley@unc.edu
authors.forename: Asheley Cockrell
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.forename: Eliana M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.forename: Tamera
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Coyne-Beasley
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D012107:Research Design; D055815:Young Adult