Kuwaiti mothers' perception of their preschool children's weight status.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the accuracy of mothers' perceptions of their children's weight status, factors associated with their perceptions, and their plans for controlling their children's weights. METHOD: Four hundred eighty-two overweight Kuwaiti preschool children and their mothers were selected from a sample of 2329 from the Kuwait Nutrition Surveillance System from September 2003 to June 2004. Heights and weights were measured for the children and their mothers to identify their weight status. Mothers were interviewed using a questionnaire to assess their perceptions and plans for their children's weights. RESULTS: Mothers of overweight children (97%), male children (88.4%), and children without a family history of obesity (89%) showed significantly incorrect perception of their children's weight. Interestingly, the age of the child, the mother's education level, the mother's working status, and the mother's body mass index did not significantly contribute to correct perception of weight status. However, two-thirds of mothers had a plan to control their children's weight. The child's age, the body mass index of mother and child, the family history of obesity, and a correct perception of a child's weight by the mother were significantly associated with a plan for weight control. CONCLUSION: A majority of Kuwaiti mothers were unable to correctly perceive their children's weight status, especially for their male, overweight children. Two-thirds of the mothers had a plan to control their weight if the children become obese. The child's age, the child and mother's body weight, and the mother's correct perception mainly affected the selection of the plan.

Weight loss attempts among Kuwaiti adults attending the Central Medical Nutrition Clinic.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the reasons for attempting to lose weight and identify weight loss perception and characteristics. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of a sample of 526 Kuwaiti adults was carried out at the Central Medical Nutrition Clinic, Kuwait, from August to December 2003. Heights and weights were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated and classified according to WHO grades of obesity. A structured questionnaire used for collecting data was analyzed using SPSS version 12.0. RESULTS: Of the 526 subjects, the most commonly cited reasons for attempting to lose weight were to avoid health problems (n = 248, 47.1%) followed by improving personal appearance (n = 141, 26.8%). The weight loss perceptions of 263 (50%) of the subjects were within the accepted range (2-5 kg/month); 321 (61.0%)had previously attempted to lose weight, among them 147 (45.8%) followed the advice of doctors and dieticians. The major reason mentioned for stopping the previous dietary regime was inability to resist sweets and traditional foods (n = 99, 31.0%) followed by dissatisfaction with the dietary outcome (n = 79, 24.8%). CONCLUSION: The study confirms an awareness of the health risks of obesity,but an inability among the dieters to maintain a weight loss program. Hence, behavioral management techniques may be necessary to develop nutritional education approaches and effective weight management strategies.