Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jan:20:e14.
doi: 10.1017/S1463423618000713. Epub 2018 Oct 8.

General practitioners cannot rely on reported weight and height of children

Janneke van Leeuwen  1 , Marienke van Middelkoop  1 , Winifred D Paulis  2 , Patrick J E Bindels  1 , Bart W Koes  1
Affiliations

General practitioners cannot rely on reported weight and height of children

Janneke van Leeuwen et al. Prim Health Care Res Dev. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the differences between reported and measured weight and height for underweight, normal-weight, and overweight children, particularly in a general practitioner setting.

Background: Screening, signaling, and treatment of childhood obesity by the general practitioner depends on accurate weight and height measurements.

Methods: Data on reported and measured weight and height from a cohort including 715 normal-weight and overweight children aged 2-17 were used. Means of reported and measured weight and height were compared using the paired T-test.

Findings: Of the 715 included children, 17.5% were defined as being underweight, 63.2% normal-weight, and 19.3% overweight according to direct measured height and weight. In the age group 2-8 years, parents of underweight children reported a significantly higher weight than measured weight [mean differences (MD) 0.32 kg (0.02, 0.62)], whereas parents of overweight young children reported a significantly lower weight [MD -1.08 kg (-1.77, -0.39)]. In the age group 9-17 years, normal-weight [MD -0.51 kg (-0.79, -0.23)] and overweight children [MD -1.28 kg (-2.08, -0.47)] reported a significantly lower weight than measured weight.

Conclusions: General practitioners cannot rely on reported weight and height measures from parents and children. In case of suspected under- or overweight in children, it should be advised to measure weight and height in general practice.

Keywords: childhood obesity; primary care; screening.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicting or competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of inclusion
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Beck J, Schaefer CA, Nace H, Steffen AD, Nigg C, Brink L, Hill JO Browning RC (2012) Accuracy of self-reported height and weight in children aged 6 to 11 years. Preventing Chronic Disease 9, E119. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek (2011) International Standard Classification of Education: Inpassen van het Nederlandse onderwijs in ESCED 2011. Voorburg, Netherlands.
    1. Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek (2016) Lengte en gewicht van personen, ondergewicht en overgewicht; vanaf 1981. Retrieved 16 February 2018 from http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?DM=SLNL&PA=81565NED.
    1. Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek (2017) Bevolking; onderwijsniveau; geslacht, leeftijd en migratieachtergrond. CBS. Retrieved 16 February 2018 from http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/publication/?VW=T&DM=SLnl&PA=82275NED&LA=nl.
    1. Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM Dietz WH (2000) Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ 320, 1240–1243. - PMC - PubMed

Substances