Survey on nutrition awareness and its influencing factors among parents of preschool children / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To survey the awareness status and its influencing factors among parents of preschool children.Methods:Data was collected from the National Nutrition and Health Systematic Survey for 0-18 Year Children in China. A total of 2 625 children aged 3-5 years and their parents living in northern and southern regions of China were randomly selected by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling. The physical measurements were performed for the children, including height and weight; and the body mass index (BMI) and age-for-BMI Z-score (BAZ) were calculated. The questionnaire survey was conducted for the parents, including the demographic characteristics of parents and their children, the perception of their child′s nutritional status (overweight/obesity, normal, wasting) etc. According to WHO standards, the nutritional status of the children was classified as wasting, normal and overweight/obesity. The awareness of parents on their children′s nutritional status was classified as underestimated, correct, overestimated and unclear. Parents′ inability to correctly judge children′s nutritional status was defined as cognitive bias, including underestimation bias and overestimation bias. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of parents′ underestimation or overestimation of children′s nutritional status.Results:Among 2 625 enrolled preschool children, there were 1 312 boys (50.0%) and 1 313 girls (50.0%); and 648 (24.7%), 944 (36.0%) and 1 033 (39.3%) children aged 3, 4 and 5 years, respectively. One parent (mother, farther or others) of each child was selected for survey, and most of them were mothers (1 998(76.1%)). The prevalence rate of overweight/obesity and wasting was 10.3% (270/2 625) and 1.4% (38/2 625), respectively; and 2 317 children (88.3%) were normal. Among all parents surveyed, 1 766 (67.3%) were correct about their children′s nutritional status (correct group), 612 (23.3%) underestimated their children′s nutritional status (underestimated group), 213 (8.1%) overestimated their children′s nutritional status (overestimated group) and 34 (1.3%) were not aware of their children′s nutritional status (unclear group). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that girls ( OR=0.817, 95% CI 0.678-0.984), living in rural areas ( OR=0.801, 95% CI 0.662-0.969), large birth weight of child ( OR=0.639, 95% CI 0.420-0.970) were protective factors for parents underestimating children′s nutritional status. Living in the northern region ( OR=1.698, 95% CI 1.260-2.290), large birth weight of children ( OR=1.826, 95% CI 1.149-2.902), father with overweight/obesity ( OR=1.467, 95% CI 1.089-1.977) and maternal overweight/obesity ( OR=1.778, 95% CI 1.308-2.417) were the risk factors for parents to overestimate the nutritional status of children. Conclusions:The survey shows that parents of preschool children have a relatively high cognitive bias on the nutritional status of their children. Parents of girls, living in rural areas or having child with large birth weight are less likely to underestimate the nutritional status of children; parents living in northern regions, having a child with large birth weight, or with overweight/obese are likely to overestimate the nutritional status of children.