Percepção materna do estado nutricional de crianças em idade pré-escolar frequentadoras de creches públicas

Resumo (EN)

Objective – Analyze the correlation between the perception and the nutritional status of their children in preschool age. Methods – Cross-sectional study conducted with 661 children aged between 2 and 4 years of age. The classification of nutritional status was based on z score distribution of body mass index (zBMI), according to the Ministry of Health (2009). In addition, it was estimated the Pearson correlation coefficient between zBMI and maternal perceptions regarding the child's weight. Maternal perception was characterized from the question: “in relation to the weight of the child do you think: is appropriate; below the appropriate; far below the appropriate; above the appropriate; or well above the appropriate”. Results – The average BMI z score was 0.57 (95% CI: 0.48-0.66) with standard deviation of 1.19 and median of 0.52. The prevalence of overweight of preschoolers (risk of overweight, overweight and obesity) was 29.8%. Maternal perception of perceived nutritional condition and diagnosed showed a direct correlation significant with the child’s BMI z score (rp = 0.46; p < 0.0001). Conclusion – It is observed that there is a positive trend of correlation between the perception and the nutritional status of pre-school children, suggesting that in general the mother has a reasonably adequate perception of the nutritional condition of the son.