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What are parents of obese children concerned about in their children?
M Yoshinaga1, Y Yuasa, T Kitahara
1Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.
Insights
Parents are more motivated to treat childhood obesity when informed about high cholesterol or atherogenic index (ASI) levels, rather than just obesity severity. Focusing on these health markers may improve treatment program engagement.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Metabolic Disorders
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
- Identifying effective parental motivation strategies for pediatric obesity treatment is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate parental concerns regarding childhood obesity.
- To determine the most effective methods for motivating parents to seek treatment for their obese children.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 378 obese children (obesity index >= 40%, ages 6-12) in Kagoshima City.
- Evaluations included medical history, blood pressure, and lipid profiles (HDL-cholesterol, ASI).
- Parents were invited to an obesity treatment lecture after receiving evaluation results.
Main Results:
- Only 10.3% (39/378) of parents attended the lecture.
- Attending parents had children with significantly higher mean total cholesterol and ASI values.
- Parents were more likely to attend if their child had abnormal cholesterol (20.3%) or ASI (16.9%) levels compared to obesity alone (4.2%).
Conclusions:
- Parental concern may be greater for hypercholesterolemia and arteriosclerosis than for obesity itself.
- Utilizing cholesterol and ASI values, not just obesity severity, could be a more effective strategy to motivate parental engagement in pediatric obesity treatment programs.
Abstract:
We retrospectively examined the issues that concern parents of obese children to determine the most effective means of motivating them to seek treatment for obesity in their children. Children with an obesity index > or = 40%, aged six to 12 years, were screened in Kagoshima City in 1992. Parents were notified if their children needed an evaluation that included a family history and measurements of the blood pressure, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, atherogenic index (ASI), triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT). Parents were informed of the results of the evaluation and invited to attend a lecture on the treatment of obesity in children. A total of 378 obese children were evaluated. However, the parents of only 39 children attended the lecture. Children whose parents attended had higher mean total levels of cholesterol (190 +/- 25 vs 175 +/- 28, P < 0.01) and ASI values (3.2 +/- 0.9 vs 2.7 +/- 0.9, P < 0.02) than those whose parents did not attend. There were no significant differences in other factors. Only 4.2% of parents whose children showed no abnormal values, except for obesity, attended the lecture, compared with 20.3% (P < 0.01) or 16.9% (P < 0.05) of parents whose children had abnormal levels of cholesterol or abnormal ASI. Parents may be more concerned about hypercholesterolemia or arteriosclerosis than obesity per se. We should perhaps use the total cholesterol or ASI values, not just the severity of obesity, to motivate parents to enter their children into treatment programs for obesity.