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31/03/2015

Parents Fail To Recognise Obesity In Children - Study

A new study has found that parents of obese children often fail to recognise that their child is overweight. The research was been led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the UCL Institute of Child Health, and published in the British Journal of General Practice. It revealed that parents are likely to have incorrect perceptions about their child's weight – unless they are at a very extreme level of obesity. Parents were found to be unable to identify when their child is overweight, leading to questions about the effectiveness of public health interventions currently in place which aim to address obesity in the home.

The team behind the study questioned 2,976 families in the UK and asked if their child was obese, overweight, underweight or a healthy weight. Of those, 915 parents (31%), underestimated where their child's BMI registered on the government's obesity scale. The scale classifies children as very overweight (or obese), overweight, healthy weight, or underweight.

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Furthermore, just four parents described their child as being "very overweight" – despite 369 children being officially identified as very overweight according to the BMI scale.

Dr Sanjay Kinra, senior author and Reader in Clinical Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, explained: "If parents are unable to accurately classify their own child's weight, they may not be willing or motivated to enact the changes to the child's environment that promote healthy weight maintenance."

Co-author Professor Russell Viner, academic paediatrician at the UCL institute of Child Health and a c-lead investigator of the PROMISE trial alongside Dr Kinra, added: "Measures that decrease the gap between parental perceptions of child weight status and obesity scales used by medical professionals may now be needed in order to help parents better understand the health risks associated with overweight and increase uptake of healthier lifestyles."

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research and forms part of the PROMISE study, a five-part project that aims to improve the assessment and treatment of childhood obesity through research.

(JP)

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"A new study has found that parents of obese children often fail to recognise that their child is overweight."