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Caregivers’ inability to identify childhood adiposity: A cross‐sectional survey of rural children and their caregivers’ attitudes
Author(s) -
Fisher Louise,
Fraser John,
Alexander Christian
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1584.2006.00764.x
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , anthropometry , body mass index , stratified sampling , cross sectional study , obesity , pediatrics , childhood obesity , demography , gerontology , pathology , sociology
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of overweight and obese children in north‐western New South Wales and to assess caregivers’ ability to detect adiposity in their children.Design: A cross‐sectional survey using a standardised caregiver questionnaire and anthropometric measurements of school children attending 10 primary schools selected by stratified random sampling.Subjects: A total of 598 eligible school children aged between five and eight years.Measurements: Body mass index for children; caregivers’ assessment of their children's dietary intake, physical activity and adiposity by questionnaire.Results: A total of 348 caregivers responded to the survey, yielding a response rate of 58.2%. Significantly more caregivers of boys (200) than girls (144) chose to participate (χ2 = 8.3, d.f. = 1, P < 0.01). The vast majority of caregivers (87%) consented to their children being measured. Body mass index measurements revealed the following: more than three quarters of boys (82%) and girls (77%) were of normal weight. Of boys and girls 13% were overweight. Twice as many girls (6%) than boys (3%) were obese. In total, 31% of caregivers underestimated the weight of their children. This proportion of caregivers underestimating the correct weight category of their children almost doubled to 56% of caregivers of overweight children. Proportionately more caregivers of overweight boys underestimated their children's weight than caregivers of girls (67% compared with 44%). Conclusion: Health promotional activities need to address, as a matter of priority, caregivers’ ability to accurately assess the correct weight category of their children.