Distorted body image of overweight or obese children among mothers

Pediatric obesity is a major public health problem in the country. The imbalance between caloric intake and expense has been recognized as a major contributing factor, however, despite many strategies to combat this pathology the results remain discouraging. The mother is an important treatment intermediary that can have a distorted motherly perception (DMP) about their child’s nutritional status. The purpose of this study was to assess motherly perception of body image (MPBI) of their school-age children. We selected mothers with children between 7 and 17 years old from schools in Santiago, Chile. We assessed nutritional status with body index mass (BMI) and pubertal growth (Tanner) and compared MPBI with actual nutritional status. We observed that 54.8% of mothers of obese children and 78.3% of mothers of overweight children had DMP, estimating their child as thinner. DMP among mothers of overweight and obese children could affect treatment adherence and is a key point for intervention.