Few parents of overweight children–fewer than one in four–say that their pediatricians have raised concerns over their kids' weight, according to a new study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
\”It\’s tricky to say, and it\’s tricky to hear,\” says lead researcher Dr. Eliana Perrin of the University of North Carolina. She analyzed government health surveys that included nearly 5,000 parents of overweight children from 1999 to 2008.
Parents tend not to realize when a weight problem is creeping up on their children. When almost a third of U.S. children are at least overweight, and about 17 percent are obese, it\’s harder to notice that there\’s anything unusual about their own families. Plus, children change as they grow older.
The new study suggests when parents do recall a doctor noting the problem, it\’s been going on for a while.
About 30 percent of the parents of overweight 12- to 15-year-olds said a doctor had alerted them, compared with just 12 percent of the parents of overweight preschoolers. Even among the parents of very obese children, only 58 percent recalled a doctor discussing it, says the report published Monday by the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
\”Many pediatricians don\’t worry until children are very overweight, or until they\’re much older,\” says Perrin, whose team has created stoplight-colored growth charts to help doctors explain when a problem\’s brewing. \”If we can notice a concerning trend early, we\’re more likely to be able to do something about it.\”
Image: Overweight boy, via Shutterstock.
