The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on November 23, 2006
The European Journal of Public Health 2007 17(4):369-374; doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl253
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Children and Adolescents |
Reported versus measured body weight and height of 4-year-old children and the prevalence of overweight
Salome Scholtens1, Bert Brunekreef1,2, Tommy LS Visscher3,4, Henriette A Smit3, Marjan Kerkhof5, Johan C de Jongste6, Jorrit Gerritsen7 and Alet H Wijga3
1 Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University Utrecht, The Netherlands
2 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht Utrecht, The Netherlands
3 Center for Prevention and Health Services Research, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven, The Netherlands
4 Institute for Health Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
5 Department of Epidemiology and Bioinformatics, University of Groningen Groningen, The Netherlands
6 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Respiratory Medicine Erasmus MC—Sophia, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
7 Beatrix Children's Hospital, University Medical Centre Groningen University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Correspondence: Salome Scholtens, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Centre for Prevention and Health Services Research (pb 101), PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands, tel: +31 30 274 3541, fax: +31 30 274 4407, e-mail: salome.scholtens{at}rivm.nl
Received June 29, 2006 , accepted October 10, 2006
Background: In adults, body weight tends to be underestimated when based on self-reported data. Whether this discrepancy between measured and reported data exists in healthy young children is unclear. We studied whether parental reported body weight and height of 4-year-old children corresponded with measured body weight and height. In addition, we studied the determinants and the consequences of differences between reported and measured data. Methods: Data on body weight and height of 864 4-year-old Dutch children born in 1996/1997 enrolled in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy (PIAMA) birth cohort study were collected via a questionnaire and a medical examination. Overweight was defined according to standard international age and gender specific definitions. Results: Mean differences between measured and reported body weight, height, and body mass index (BMI) were small. Parents of children with a low BMI tended to over report body weight while parents of children with a high BMI tended to underreport body weight. Whereas 9.5% of the children were overweight according to reported BMI, the prevalence of overweight was 13.4% based on measured BMI. Over 45% of the overweight children according to measured BMI were missed when reported BMI was used. Conclusion: These findings suggest that overweight prevalence rates in children are underestimated when based on reported weight and height.
Keywords: BMI, body weight, child, overweight, validation study
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