Effects of television viewing on body fatness among Chinese children and adolescents

作     者：WANG Ning XU Feng ZHENG Li-qiang ZHANG Xin-gang LI Yang SUN Guo-zhe GUO Xiao-fan YU Sha-sha SUN Ying-xian 

作者机构：Department of C~diology the First Hospital of China MedicalUniversity Shenyang Liaoning 110001 China Department of Cardiology Shengjing Hospital of China MedicalUniversity Shenyang Liaoning 110004 China 

出 版 物：《Chinese Medical Journal》 (中华医学杂志（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2012年第125卷第8期

页      面：1500-1503页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 02[经济学] 0202[经济学-应用经济学] 020208[经济学-统计学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 1002[医学-临床医学] 07[理学] 

基　　金：This study was supported by a grant from the National Basic Research Programme of China (973 Programme) 

主　　题：obesity abdominal obesity television children 

摘      要：Background Numerous studies have shown that time spent on television （TV） viewing is positively associated with obesity. The aim of this study was to examine the potential association between excessive TV viewing and obesity, especially abdominal obesity, among children and adolescents in mainland of China. Methods A total of 4708 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 years were recruited for the study. Anthropometric measures were conducted by trained personnels. A self-report questionnaire was designed to gather information on TV time, physical activity, diet habits, maternal body mass index （BMI）, birth weight, and on general demographics, including age and gender, and socio-economic status. Results The prevalence of obesity in this group was 6.5%. Linear regression analysis indicated that high TV viewing time （〉1.5 h/d） was significantly associated with higher BMI, waist circumference （WC）, and waist-to-height ratio （WHtR）. In addition, the high TV time group had 1.3 times the odds of obesity as compared to the low TV time group. Likewise, high TV viewing time increased the OR value 1.32 and 1.21 times higher in WC- and WHtR-defined obesity. Within the non-obesity group, high TV viewing time was also positively associated with higher WC and WHtR. All these correlations remained significant after adjustment for the confounding variables. Conclusions Excessive TV viewing might increase the risk of obesity among Chinese youth. Reducing TV viewing time may be beneficial to improve health outcomes, both in the short- and long term. This finding should be taken into account in future designs of intervention policies to prevent childhood and adolescent obesity in China.