Evaluation of the maternal perception of childhood overweight-obesity and maternal recognition of health risk in a Mexican border city

Abstract

Objectives. To evaluate 1) maternal perception (MP) of their child's weight, 2) MP of overweight-obesity (OW-OB) of unrelated children (URC), 3) MP of image with health risk, and 4) recognition of OW-OB health risks. Material and Methods. A total of 325 mother-child dyads participated.A panel with 7 images was used.The child's body mass index was the gold standard. Results. A total of 84 of 100 mothers of OW-OB children did not accurately perceive their children's weight. Of the total sample, 97.5\% perceived the OW-OB of URC and 83.1\% the OW-OB image with health risk. Most of the mothers recognized the health risks. Conclusion. It is necessary to design multidisciplinary intervention programs to help mothers of OW-OB children accurately recognize their children's weight and, thus, reduce the high prevalence of OW-OB in our population.