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Primary Care of Overweight Children: The Importance of Parent Weight and Attitudes about Overweight: A MetroNet Study

Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan (RFY, KLS, JCM, AVN)
Family Medicine Residency Program, St. John Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (PW)

Correspondence: Corresponding author: Rosalie Young, PhD, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 101 Alexandrine, Detroit, MI 48201 (E-mail: ryoung{at}med.wayne.edu)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the association of parents’ weight and attitude about their child'sweight with the child'sbody mass index (BMI) status.

Design: Cross-sectional, clinic-based study in a practice-based research network.

Methods: One hundred seventy-one parents or adults accompanying children aged 5 to 17 years to a primary care visit in 4 family medicine centers completed a questionnaire. Parent/adult overweight status and attitudes were compared with child overweight status.

Results: Forty-eight percent of children were overweight or obese (BMI the 85th percentile) as were 56% of mothers and 77% of fathers (BMI 25 kg/m²). Child and parent overweight were significantly associated, as were mother overweight and beliefs about child overweight status. Children aged 5 to 13 years were more likely to be overweight than those aged 14 years.

Conclusions: Parents of overweight children are often overweight and many do not recognize that their children are overweight. Suggestions are made for primary care physicians to engage parents of overweight children in family weight control efforts.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. A. Bowman, A. V. Neale, and P. Lupo Third Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine Practice-based Research Theme Issue J Am Board Fam Med, July 1, 2008; 21(4): 255 - 257. [Full Text] [PDF]