Factors associated with maternal underestimation of child's weight: a population-based study

Objective To investigate the factors associated with maternal underestimation of weight status of children under five years in Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. Methods A population-based cross-sectional study involving 673 children under five years of age was carried out. Maternal perception of child's weight was assessed by the question: "What do you think about your child's current weight?". The child's nutritional status was determined in terms of body mass index-for age. Poisson regression was used at 5% significance level. Concordance analysis was performed using the Kappa test. Results Among the children studied, 1.6 % were lean, 87.7% eutrophic, and 10.7% overweight. Most mothers (66.0%) correctly classified the weight of their children, 5.2% overestimated it, and 28.8% underestimated it. Mothers of overweight children and those whose children were older than 24 months had a higher prevalence of underestimation of weight, whereas the overweight mothers and those with higher education level had a lower prevalence of underestimation of weight of their children. The correlation between maternal perception of the chil's weight and the actual child's nutritional status was 0.12 (p