Singaporean Mothers’ Perception of Their Three-year-old Child’s Weight Status: A Cross-Sectional Study

PLoS One

Yin Bun Cheung¹  Jerry Kok Yen Chan²  Ngee Lek³  Kenneth Kwek⁴  Tuck Seng Cheng⁵  Peter D. Gluckman⁶  Keith M. Godfrey⁷  See Ling Loy⁸  Mya Thway Tint⁸  Yung Seng Lee⁹  Seang Mei Saw^1,10  Yap-Seng Chong^1,11  Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study group^1,12  Fabian Yap^1,13 

[1]Center for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

[2]Department of International Health, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

[3]Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

[4]Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health Systems, Singapore, Singapore

[5]Department of Paediatrics, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

[6]Department of Reproductive Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

[7]Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

[8]KK Research Centre, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

[9]Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

[10]MRC Life-course Epidemiology Unit, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom

[11]NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, United Kingdom

[12]Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

[13]Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, (A*STAR), Singapore, Singapore

关键词: Vision;    Childhood obesity;    Mothers;    Body mass index;    Child health;    Sensory perception;    Anthropometry;    Children;   

DOI  :  10.1371/journal.pone.0147563

学科分类：医学（综合）

来源: Public Library of Science

【 摘 要 】

Objective Inaccurate parental perception of their child’s weight status is commonly reported in Western countries. It is unclear whether similar misperception exists in Asian populations. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of Singaporean mothers to accurately describe their three-year-old child’s weight status verbally and visually. Methods At three years post-delivery, weight and height of the children were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and converted into actual weight status using International Obesity Task Force criteria. The mothers were blinded to their child’s measurements and asked to verbally and visually describe what they perceived was their child’s actual weight status. Agreement between actual and described weight status was assessed using Cohen’s Kappa statistic (κ). Results Of 1237 recruited participants, 66.4% (n = 821) with complete data on mothers’ verbal and visual perceptions and children’s anthropometric measurements were analysed. Nearly thirty percent of the mothers were unable to describe their child’s weight status accurately. In verbal description, 17.9% under-estimated and 11.8% over-estimated their child’s weight status. In visual description, 10.4% under-estimated and 19.6% over-estimated their child’s weight status. Many mothers of underweight children over-estimated (verbal 51.6%; visual 88.8%), and many mothers of overweight and obese children under-estimated (verbal 82.6%; visual 73.9%), their child’s weight status. In contrast, significantly fewer mothers of normal-weight children were inaccurate (verbal 16.8%; visual 8.8%). Birth order (p<0.001), maternal (p = 0.004) and child’s weight status (p<0.001) were associated with consistently inaccurate verbal and visual descriptions. Conclusions Singaporean mothers, especially those of underweight and overweight children, may not be able to perceive their young child’s weight status accurately. To facilitate prevention of childhood obesity, educating parents and caregivers about their child’s weight status is needed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY