Health Analysis Division, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0T6.
Health Rep. 2011 Sep;22(3):47-58.
Studies based on adolescents and adults have found that the use of self-reported height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI) yields a lower prevalence of obesity than do estimates based on measured data. Relatively few studies have examined the bias resulting from the use of parent-reported height and weight for children, and the findings have been inconsistent.
Data are from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Parent-reported height and weight of children aged 6 to 11 (n=854) were obtained. Subsequently, the children's height and weight were directly measured.
On average, parents underestimated the height (3.3 cm) and weight (1.1 kg) of their children. Estimates of the prevalence of obesity were significantly higher when based on parent-reported versus measured values for children aged 6 to 8; the two collection methods yielded similar estimates of obesity for children aged 9 to 11. For children in both age groups, misclassification errors for BMI categories were substantial when based on parent-reported values. This weakened associations between obesity and health indicators such as aerobic fitness and systolic blood pressure. The variance explained by factors associated with the bias in parent-reported height and weight was small, particularly for height. The use of correction equations based on variables associated with the bias resulted in a very modest reduction in misclassification errors.
Bias associated with parental reports of children's height and weight results in misclassification errors for obesity that affect relationships with other variables. Efforts to establish correction equations to adjust for this bias were unsuccessful. Direct measures are required to accurately calculate obesity estimates and their relationships with health indicators in children.
基于青少年和成年人的研究发现，使用自我报告的身高和体重来计算体重指数（BMI）比基于测量数据的估计结果得出的肥胖患病率更低。相对较少的研究检查了使用父母报告的儿童身高和体重产生的偏差，而且研究结果不一致。
数据来自 2007 年至 2009 年加拿大健康测量调查。获取了 6 至 11 岁儿童的父母报告的身高和体重（n=854）。随后，直接测量了儿童的身高和体重。
平均而言，父母低估了孩子的身高（3.3 厘米）和体重（1.1 公斤）。对于 6 至 8 岁的儿童，基于父母报告的身高和体重的肥胖估计值明显高于基于测量值的肥胖估计值；对于 9 至 11 岁的儿童，两种收集方法得出的肥胖估计值相似。对于两个年龄组的儿童，基于父母报告值的 BMI 类别分类错误都很大。这削弱了肥胖与有氧健身和收缩压等健康指标之间的关联。与父母报告身高和体重偏差相关的因素解释的方差很小，特别是对于身高。使用基于与偏差相关的变量的校正方程导致分类错误的大幅减少。
父母报告的儿童身高和体重偏差与肥胖相关的分类错误会影响与其他变量的关系。为调整这种偏差而建立校正方程的努力并不成功。需要直接测量来准确计算儿童肥胖估计值及其与健康指标的关系。
