Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
BMC Pediatr. 2011 Jul 7;11:63. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-11-63.
Parental reports are often used in large-scale surveys to assess children's body mass index (BMI). Therefore, it is important to know to what extent these parental reports are valid and whether it makes a difference if the parents measured their children's weight and height at home or whether they simply estimated these values. The aim of this study is to compare the validity of parent-reported height, weight and BMI values of preschool children (3-7 y-old), when measured at home or estimated by parents without actual measurement.
The subjects were 297 Belgian preschool children (52.9% male). Participation rate was 73%. A questionnaire including questions about height and weight of the children was completed by the parents. Nurses measured height and weight following standardised procedures. International age- and sex-specific BMI cut-off values were employed to determine categories of weight status and obesity.
On the group level, no important differences in accuracy of reported height, weight and BMI were identified between parent-measured or estimated values. However, for all 3 parameters, the correlations between parental reports and nurse measurements were higher in the group of children whose body dimensions were measured by the parents. Sensitivity for underweight and overweight/obesity were respectively 73% and 47% when parents measured their child's height and weight, and 55% and 47% when parents estimated values without measurement. Specificity for underweight and overweight/obesity were respectively 82% and 97% when parents measured the children, and 75% and 93% with parent estimations.
Diagnostic measures were more accurate when parents measured their child's weight and height at home than when those dimensions were based on parental judgements. When parent-reported data on an individual level is used, the accuracy could be improved by encouraging the parents to measure weight and height of their children at home.
在大规模调查中，父母报告常被用于评估儿童的体重指数（BMI）。因此，了解这些父母报告的有效性程度以及父母在家中实际测量孩子的体重和身高与简单估计这些值之间是否存在差异非常重要。本研究旨在比较在家中由父母测量或由父母根据实际测量值进行估计的学龄前儿童（3-7 岁）的父母报告身高、体重和 BMI 值的有效性。
研究对象为 297 名比利时学龄前儿童（52.9%为男性），参与率为 73%。父母填写了一份包含儿童身高和体重问题的问卷。护士按照标准程序测量身高和体重。采用国际年龄和性别特异性 BMI 切点值来确定体重状况和肥胖类别。
在群体水平上，父母测量值或估计值报告的身高、体重和 BMI 的准确性之间没有重要差异。然而，对于所有 3 个参数，父母报告与护士测量值之间的相关性在父母测量孩子身体尺寸的儿童组中更高。当父母测量孩子的身高和体重时，对消瘦和超重/肥胖的敏感性分别为 73%和 47%，而当父母不进行测量仅估计值时敏感性分别为 55%和 47%。当父母测量孩子时，对消瘦和超重/肥胖的特异性分别为 82%和 97%，而当父母进行估计时特异性分别为 75%和 93%。
当父母在家中测量孩子的体重和身高时，诊断措施比基于父母判断的措施更准确。当在个体水平上使用父母报告的数据时，通过鼓励父母在家中测量孩子的体重和身高，可以提高准确性。
