Related Experiment Videos
Television, computer use and body mass index in Australian primary school children
1Centre for Community Child Health, University of Melbourne, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. melissa.wake@rch.org.au
Insights
Childhood obesity is complex; while television viewing showed a slight link to body mass index (BMI), other factors like parental BMI and activity levels were more influential. Video game use did not correlate with BMI in this study.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Obesity Research
- Public Health
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a significant public health concern.
- Understanding risk factors for pediatric obesity is crucial for developing effective interventions.
- Sedentary behaviors, such as television viewing and video game use, are often implicated in childhood obesity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between children's body mass index (BMI) and their habits related to television and video game/computer use.
- To control for other potential risk factors for pediatric obesity in the analysis.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 2862 children aged 5-13 years in Victoria, Australia.
- Child BMI was calculated from measured height and weight.
- Parental reports were used to gather data on children's media habits, eating and activity patterns, parental BMI, and sociodemographic information.
Main Results:
- Child BMI z-score was significantly related to television viewing time but not video game/computer time.
- Television viewing accounted for a small percentage of BMI variance (1%), while video game/computer time accounted for even less (0.2%).
- After adjusting for parental BMI, education, siblings, diet, and activity levels, television viewing was no longer independently associated with child BMI. However, increased television viewing was associated with higher odds of being overweight or obese.
Conclusions:
- Television viewing, but not video game/computer use, showed a minor association with child BMI, explaining a small proportion of variance.
- Other factors, including parental BMI and lifestyle habits, exerted a much stronger influence on child BMI than media consumption.
- The complex interplay of various factors suggests multifaceted causal pathways for childhood obesity.
Objective:
To investigate relationships between children's body mass index (BMI) and parent reports of children's television and video game/computer habits, controlling for other potential risk factors for paediatric obesity.
Methods:
Child BMI was calculated from measured height and weight collected in 1997 as part of a large, representative, cross-sectional study of children in Victoria, Australia. Parents reported the amount of time children watched television and used video games/computers, children's eating and activity habits, parental BMI and sociodemographic details.
Results:
A total of 2862 children aged 5-13 years participated. Child mean BMI z-score was significantly related to television (F = 10.23, P < 0.001) but not video game/computer time (F = 2.23, P = 0.09), but accounted for only 1 and 0.2% of total BMI variance, respectively. When parental BMI, parental education, number of siblings, food intake, organized exercise and general activity level were included, television ceased to be independently significantly related to child BMI. Using adjusted logistic regression, the odds of being overweight and obese generally increased with increasing television viewing. No relationship was found for video game/computer use.
Conclusions:
A small proportion of variance in child BMI was related to television, but not video game/computer time. This was far outweighed by the influence of other variables. Causal pathways are likely to be complex and interrelated.