News and Insights for

your best life. Online since 1998
Premium: i contenuti riservati agli abbonati.
Italiano -English
N.B.: Different languages can express different contents.

Bedroom TVs and weight gain among kids (2014-03-07)

Obesity affects health in children and adolescents. Television viewing is an established risk factor for obesity in youth.
Researchers found that children who slept in bedrooms with TVs gained more weight over the next few years, than kids without TVs in their rooms.

 


 

Overall, the participants who reported having TVs in their bedrooms had larger increases in their body mass index after two and four years, compared to those who didn't have TVs in the bedroom.
The difference translates to about one extra pound of weight gain each year.

To assess the prospective association between the presence of a bedroom television and change in body mass index, independent of television viewing, in a nationally representative sample of US children and adolescents researchers conducted a random-digit prospective telephone survey that captured children and adolescents from across the United States.

Participants included 6522 boys and girls aged 10 to 14 years at baseline who were surveyed via telephone about media risk factors for obesity.
Weighted regressions assessed adiposity at 2 and 4 year follow-up, controlling for television and movie viewing, video-game playing, parenting, age, sex, race or ethnicity, household income, and parental educational level.

Distributions for age, sex, race or ethnicity, and socioeconomic status were similar to census estimates for the US population. Sample weighting methods accounted for higher dropout rates among ethnic minorities and those with lower socioeconomic status. Bedroom televisions were reported by 59.1% of participants at baseline, with boys, ethnic minorities, and those of lower socioeconomic status having significantly higher rates.

Having a bedroom television is associated with weight gain beyond the effect of television viewing time. This association could be the result of uncaptured effects of television viewing or of disrupted sleep patterns. It might also be that participants with bedroom TVs were exposed to more food advertising than those who didn't have TVs in their bedrooms.
With the high prevalence of bedroom televisions, the effect attributable to this risk factor among US children and adolescents is excess weight of 8.7 million kg/y.

For more information
Jama Pediatrics
Association of a Television in the Bedroom With Increased Adiposity Gain in a Nationally Representative Sample of Children and Adolescents

MDN

.

Pubblicità



Pubblicità


Pubblicità


Pubblicità


Pubblicità