Table 4.
Accuracy of parents' perception of their child's weight status compared to WHO definition by country and overall
| Country | All childrena |
Normal weight childrena |
Children with overweight (excluding obesity)a |
Children with obesitya |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| accurate, % | underestimate, % | over-estimate, % | accurate, % | underestimate, % | over-estimate, % | accurate, % | underestimate, % | over-estimate, % | accurate, % | underestimate, % |
||
| “a little overweight” | “normal weight” | |||||||||||
| ALB | 72.4 | 25.1 | 2.6 | 90.3 | 8.1 | 1.6 | 28.7 | 70.4 | 0.9 | 12.7 | 66.5 | 20.7 |
| BUL | 65.3 | 31.3 | 3.4 | 89.9 | 8.4 | 1.8 | 17.8 | 81.2 | 1.0 | 7.4 | 59.7 | 32.9 |
| CRO | 68.4 | 29.3 | 2.3 | 96.8 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 21.5 | 78.5 | 0.0 | 6.8 | 63.7 | 29.5 |
| CZH | 75.3 | 21.5 | 3.2 | 94.1 | 5.0 | 0.9 | 16.8 | 82.8 | 0.4 | 10.3 | 66.1 | 23.6 |
| DEN | 81.6 | 16.8 | 1.6 | 92.6 | 7.1 | 0.3 | 26.3 | 73.7 | 0.0 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| GEO | 69.2 | 29.0 | 1.7 | 86.4 | 12.2 | 1.4 | 22.9 | 76.8 | 0.2 | 8.8 | 62.5 | 28.7 |
| ITA | 60.0 | 38.1 | 1.9 | 87.4 | 10.9 | 1.7 | 29.3 | 70.4 | 0.3 | 6.4 | 71.5 | 22.2 |
| KAZ | 72.5 | 22.0 | 5.5 | 89.0 | 7.2 | 3.8 | 14.7 | 83.5 | 1.9 | 7.4 | 34.1 | 58.5 |
| KGZ | 71.0 | 26.1 | 2.9 | 78.3 | 20.1 | 1.6 | 15.0 | 84.8 | 0.2 | 7.0 | 48.0 | 45.0 |
| LTU | 71.3 | 26.6 | 2.1 | 91.9 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 21.7 | 78.1 | 0.2 | 10.1 | 65.0 | 24.9 |
| LVA | 73.5 | 24.4 | 2.1 | 90.6 | 7.7 | 1.7 | 30.9 | 68.6 | 0.5 | 11.8 | 67.4 | 20.8 |
| MAT | 61.1 | 37.9 | 1.1 | 90.6 | 8.7 | 0.7 | 13.9 | 85.9 | 0.2 | 3.7 | 62.2 | 34.0 |
| MNE | 66.8 | 31.0 | 2.2 | 96.2 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 12.1 | 86.9 | 1.0 | 6.2 | 41.6 | 52.2 |
| POL | 67.7 | 31.1 | 1.2 | 89.6 | 9.9 | 0.5 | 21.0 | 78.5 | 0.4 | 18.1 | 55.7 | 26.2 |
| POR | 64.0 | 35.2 | 0.8 | 89.6 | 10.0 | 0.4 | 9.5 | 90.4 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 60.4 | 38.4 |
| ROM | 66.5 | 27.2 | 6.2 | 90.4 | 7.5 | 2.1 | 30.1 | 69.7 | 0.2 | 4.5 | 71.6 | 23.9 |
| RUS | 71.1 | 25.9 | 3.0 | 90.0 | 8.2 | 1.8 | 26.4 | 73.0 | 0.6 | 7.6 | 67.9 | 24.4 |
| SMR | 66.7 | 32.0 | 1.3 | 89.5 | 9.0 | 1.5 | 31.3 | 68.8 | 0.0 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| SPA | 56.4 | 42.6 | 1.0 | 89.7 | 9.5 | 0.8 | 11.5 | 88.5 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 50.6 | 45.6 |
| TJK | 80.3 | 13.7 | 6.0 | 90.2 | 7.3 | 2.5 | 6.2 | 93.8 | 0.0 | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| TKM | 79.7 | 15.5 | 4.7 | 94.2 | 4.9 | 0.9 | 4.1 | 95.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 23.8 | 75.5 |
| TUR | 51.3 | 47.8 | 1.0 | 67.2 | 32.1 | 0.7 | 7.6 | 92.2 | 0.2 | 4.4 | 46.2 | 49.4 |
| Pooled estimatesb | 64.1 | 33.5 | 2.3 | 86.5 | 12.2 | 1.3 | 17.4 | 82.3 | 0.3 | 6.2 | 56.6 | 37.2 |
COSI Round 4 (2015−2017). COSI, Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative; BUL, Bulgaria; CZH, Czechia; DEN, Denmark; KGZ, Kyrgyzstan; GEO, Georgia; LVA, Latvia; LTU, Lithuania; MTA, Malta; MNE, Montenegro; RUS, Moscow city-Russian Federation; POR, Portugal; SPA, Spain; TJK, Tajikistan; TKM, Turkey; TUR, Turkmenistan, ALB, Albania; CRO, Croatia; ITA, Italy; POL, Poland; ROM, Romania; SMR, San Marino; KAZ, Kazakhstan.
Accurate perception refers to children perceived as belonging to the correct category determined by the WHO definition (e.g., normal weight children perceived as “normal weight” by their parents). Underestimating perception refers to children perceived as belonging to a higher category than determined by the WHO definition (e.g., children with overweight perceived as “normal weight” by their parents). Overestimating perception refers to children perceived as belonging to a lower category than determined by the WHO definition (e.g., normal weight children perceived as “a little overweight” by parents). The accuracy of parents' perception was not analyzed for children with obesity from DEN, SMR, and TJK due to the limited number of available observations.
Pooled estimates were calculated for the following age groups/countries: 7 year olds from BUL), CZH, DEN, KGZ, GEO, LVA, LTU, MAT, MNE, RUS, POL, SPA, TJK, TKM, and TUR; 8 year olds from ALB, CRO, ITA, POL, ROM, and SMR; and 9 year olds from KAZ.