Elsevier

Obesity Research & Clinical Practice

Volume 8, Issue 1, January–February 2014, Pages e98-e105
Obesity Research & Clinical Practice

Original Article
Caregiver perceptions of child nutritional status in Magallanes, Chile

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2012.10.003Get rights and content

Summary

Background

We aimed to identify risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity and the accuracy of caregivers’ perceptions of their child's nutritional status in the Magallanes region, Patagonia, Chile.

Methods

Heights and weights of children attending day care centers and elementary schools were collected and caregivers completed questionnaires regarding their child's health and behavior. The child's nutritional status was diagnosed using the 2006 WHO Child Growth Standards (for children under age 6) and the CDC 2000 Growth Charts (for children age 6 and older). Logistic regression was used to evaluate factors related to childhood overweight/obesity and weight underestimation by caregivers of overweight or obese children.

Results

Of the 795 children included in the study, 247 (31.1%) were overweight and 223 (28.1%) were obese. Risk factors for overweight/obesity included younger age and being perceived to eat more than normal by the caregiver. Caregivers were less likely to underestimate their child's weight if the child was older or if the caregiver believed the child ate more than a normal amount.

Conclusions

There is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in Magallanes and the majority of caregivers underestimate the extent of the problem in their children.

Section snippets

Background

In Latin America, an epidemiologic transition is currently underway, with the prevalence of overweight and obesity increasing to become a serious public health issue [1], [2], [3]. Chile has one of the highest rates of childhood overweight in Latin America [1], [4] and the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is generally greater in the southern part of the country [5]. In the southernmost Chilean region of Magallanes, 37.5% of children under age 6 are estimated to be overweight or

Setting and study population

Between November 2009 and July 2010, data were collected from 795 children (aged 2 months to 14 years) and their caregivers in Punta Arenas, Puerto Natales and Porvenir, Chile. Caregivers and children were recruited at 12 day care centers belonging to the Integra Foundation and 2 public elementary schools. All of the day cares and schools serve children from low-middle income families except one of the elementary schools, which serves children from middle-high income families. School

Descriptive analyses

Characteristics of the children and caregivers stratified by the child's WHO/CDC weight diagnosis are shown in Table 1. Overall, 11 (1.4%) of the children included in this study were diagnosed as at risk for undernutrition, 314 (39.5%) were normal weight, 247 (31.1%) were overweight, and 223 (28.1%) were obese.

Factors associated with child overweight/obesity

Results of logistic regression models of the associations of child and caregiver characteristics with the odds of a child being overweight/obese as compared to normal weight are presented

Discussion

In this population of Chilean children, 30.8% were overweight and 28.1% were obese. Additionally, 60.9% of children under 6 years old and 67.5% of 6–7 year olds were either overweight or obese; these estimates are approximately 1.5 times those reported for Magallanes by the Chilean Ministry of Health in 2007 and by a 2002 study conducted in Punta Arenas in comparable populations [6], [10]. Our results may therefore suggest that the rate of childhood excess weight in Magallanes is growing, as is

Conflicts of interest

We have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Funding

This research was supported by an award from the National Institutes of Health, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (T37-MD001449).

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Magallanes day care centers of the Integra Foundation and the Hernando de Magallanes and Villa Las Nieves elementary schools that participated in this study for their collaboration in participant recruitment and data collection. We would also like to thank all caregiver and child participants for their cooperation. This research was supported by the Corporación de Rehabilitación Club de Leones Cruz del Sur, Punta Arenas, Chile, and by the Multidisciplinary

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    • Cited by (0)

    1

    Centro de Rehabilitación Club de Leones Cruz del Sur, Suiza 01441, Las Naciones, Punta Arenas, Chile.

    2

    Harvard School of Public Health-MIRT Program, c/o Bizu Gelaye, 677 Huntington Ave. K501, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

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