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Childhood obesity is a common health problem facing U.S. children with an increasing prevalence particularly in certain populations. Recognizing obesity in children is a clinical determination with specific measures that can indicate potential future associated health problems, but parental perception of overweight and/or obesity is influenced by other conditions. This primer offers a brief synopsis of parental influence in the etiology of early childhood obesity beginning with parameters of obesity and how it is operationalized through measurement. The importance of parental perceptions of their children relative to obesity and eating are discussed, and how parents influence the development of childhood eating behaviors or physical activity are considered.
Recent public health concern about obesity and how it contributes to a variety of health conditions has led to the establishment of national goals to improve our understanding of these links (U.S. Department of Health, 2000) and to recognize that weight-- related behaviors begin in childhood ("Surgeon General's Call to Action," 2001). Not surprisingly, early childhood obesity is a problem of increasing prevalence in the U.S. (Mei et al., 1998; Ogden et al., 1997; Strauss & Pollack, 2001). Among U.S. low-- income preschool children between 1983 and 1995, an increase from 18.6% to 21.6% was noted at the 85th percentile cutoff point, and an increase from 8.5% to 10.2% was noted at the 95th percentile cutoff (Mei et al., 1998). Strauss and Pollack (2001) reported that overweight increased steadily among African American children, in particular, after adjusting for confounding variables. What becomes clinically relevant for pediatric nurses is that obesity is not a benign condition, but carries both physical and psychologic sequelae associated with hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, orthopedic problems, social rejection, and low self-esteem (Dunn & Evers, 1996; Freedman, Dietz, Srinivasan, & Berenson, 1999). Freedman and colleagues (1999) found that among 5-to 17-year-olds, children above the 95th percentile for weight were (a) more than twice as likely to have elevated total cholesterol, (b) more than twice as likely to have elevated diastolic blood pressures, (c) 4.5 times as likely to have elevated systolic blood pressures, and (d) 12.6 times as likely to have fasting hyperinsulinemia compared to peers below the 85th percentile.
Childhood obesity is a health condition that has a tendency to...