Characteristics of parents receiving counseling from child's doctor to limit child's sugar drink consumption.

BACKGROUND

Due to limited information on sugar drink counseling, characteristics of parents who reported ever receiving counseling from a child's doctor to limit a child's sugar drink intake were examined.

METHODS

This cross-sectional analysis was conducted on a convenient sample of 1570 US parents (aged ≥ 18 years) using the 2009 HealthStyles Survey. The outcome measure was parents with children aged ≤ 18 years who reported being told by a child's doctor to limit a child's sugar drink intake. Data were weighted to provide national estimates. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with ever receiving sugar-drink counseling from a child's doctor.

RESULTS

Only 23% of parents reported receiving counseling from a child's doctor to limit a child's sugar drink intake. Parental factors significantly associated with receiving this counseling were: being male (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.38; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02, 1.86), having an annual household income of <$25 000 (versus ≥$60 000, OR = 2.12; 95% CI = 1.33, 3.38) and parents who agreed with 'enjoying learning about health issues' (versus disagree, OR = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.36, 4.36). Age, race/ethnicity, education and marital status were not significantly associated with receiving counseling.

CONCLUSIONS

Few parents reported ever receiving counseling from a child's doctor, and we found a few differences among those reporting sugar drink counseling.