Validity of parent-reported weight and height of preschool children measured at home or estimated without home measurement: a validation study

Abstract

BackgroundParental 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.MethodsThe 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.ResultsOn 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.ConclusionsDiagnostic 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.

Validity of instruction leaflets for parents to measure their child's weight and height at home: results obtained from a randomised controlled trial

“…A practical solution to improve the validity of these parent reports might be to ask parents to measure the weight and height of their children at home and to provide the parents with instructions concerning how to measure their child in an accurate way. A previous study demonstrated relatively better accuracy when parents reported that they had measured their child's weight and height at home (using unspecified methods) compared with parents who estimated their child's body size without taking measurements 11. To date, however, we are unaware of any studies evaluating the usefulness and validity of instruction leaflets for parents concerning how to measure the weight and height of their child at home.…”

Surveillance Systems to Track and Evaluate Obesity Prevention Efforts

“…Data were collected at three different time points from 2003 to 2012, but annual data collections are planned from 2016 onward (see http://childhealthdata.org/learn/NSCH). The validity of parent-reported data varies depending on the age of the child and race/ethnicity (46,47) but may be improved if parents are asked to measure their children at home before providing height and weight data (56). Local-or regional-level surveillance.…”

Children with Asthma Are Less Likely to Walk to School

“…The height and weight data were collected by a parental report, which may not be as reliable as measured parameters. [37][38][39] Canadian data have shown that the use of this data among 6-to 8-year-old children may bias the results. 40 Since the associations between the body mass index (BMI) and both active transport and asthma are not consistent, [41][42][43] it is unlikely that the BMI is a confounder that would be responsible for the main results observed in our study.…”