PARENTAL MISPERCEPTION OF CHILD’S WEIGHT STATUS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR MALNUTRITION PREVENTION, LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

It is vital for malnutrition prevention, that parents possess awareness about their child’s health status. A cross-sectional study to examine the parent’s awareness about child’s health was conducted in Lahore Pakistan. Sample students (age 7-13 years) were collected from local private and government schools, as parents were provided with a questionnaire, consisting of inquiries related to demographic, general nutrition, child body image scale and the new vital sign. The height and weight of the children were collected, and child BMI was measured using CDC standards. Chi-square was applied to check the association between predictor variables and the dependent variables. (Parent’s accuracy of perception of child’s weight). A sample of 202 parents and children (3-17years) was selected. 80% of the normal weight children were overestimated by their parents. About 8% of obese children, 25% of underweight children were overestimated by their parents, and 3% of underweight and 5% of healthy children were accurately estimated by their parents. Most of the parents overestimated their child’s weight status. Only 5% of the parents accurately perceived their child’s weight, parent’s overestimation is a common trend in this sample, regardless of parent’s variables, income, education, and health literacy. The high trend of child’s weight status represents an alarmingly low rate of health literacy of parents regarding child health, awareness among the parents to improve their health literacy and perception should be made.