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Parental Perception of Children's Weight Status: Love Overpasses Scientific Evidence! A Cross-Sectional Observational

Felice Sirico1,2, Fredrick Fernando1, Antonio Bianco1

  • 1Med-Ex, Medicine & Exercise srl, Medical Partner Scuderia Ferrari, via Vittorio Veneto 108, 00187, Rome, Italy.

High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention : the Official Journal of the Italian Society of Hypertension
|December 6, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Parents often misperceive their children's weight status, especially for those with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) percentiles. This study highlights the need for better parental education on childhood obesity and healthy weight management.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric health
  • Public health
  • Nutrition science

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
  • Accurate parental perception of children's weight status is crucial for early intervention.
  • Factors like age, gender, BMI percentile, and diet adherence may influence perception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate how accurately parents perceive their children's weight status.
  • To identify factors associated with parental misperception of childhood weight.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional observational study within a corporate wellness program.
  • Children's weight status determined by Body Mass Index (BMI) percentiles.
  • Parental perception of weight status compared against objective BMI data.

Main Results:

  • Nearly half of parents (41%) misclassified their children's weight status.
  • Overweight and obese children were frequently underestimated by parents.
  • Increasing BMI percentiles significantly decreased the accuracy of parental perception (OR=0.96).
  • Boys were less likely to be correctly classified by parents (OR=0.65).

Conclusions:

  • A significant proportion of children are overweight or obese, with widespread parental underestimation.
  • Parental perception accuracy declines as children's BMI percentiles increase.
  • Targeted interventions are needed to improve parental awareness of childhood weight status.
Abstract

Keywords:
Childhood obesityMediterranean dietParental perception

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