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Children with a TV in their bedroom at higher risk for being overweight

A M Adachi-Mejia1, M R Longacre, J J Gibson

  • 1Community Health Research Program, Hood Center for Children and Families, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH 03756-0001, USA. anna.adachi-mejia@dartmouth.edu

International Journal of Obesity (2005)
|September 14, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Having a TV in the bedroom increases the risk of child overweight, even after accounting for other factors. This study highlights a significant association between bedroom televisions and higher body mass index (BMI) in children.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Obesity Research
  • Environmental Health

Background:

  • Childhood overweight is a significant public health concern with long-term health implications.
  • The home environment, including bedroom characteristics, may play a role in the development of childhood obesity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between having a television in the bedroom and the risk of overweight in children.
  • To determine if this association persists after controlling for potential confounding factors.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional study involving 2,343 children aged 9-12 years and their parents.
  • Data collected via school- and telephone-based surveys.
  • Child overweight defined by age- and gender-standardized body mass index (zBMI) at or above the 95th percentile.

Main Results:

  • 22.3% of children were overweight; 48.2% had a TV in their bedroom.
  • Children with a bedroom TV had significantly higher zBMI and were more likely to be overweight.
  • After adjusting for covariates, bedroom TV remained a risk factor for overweight (OR=1.32).

Conclusions:

  • Having a TV in the bedroom is an independent risk factor for child overweight.
  • The mechanism linking bedroom TVs to overweight requires further investigation.
  • This finding suggests a need for parental guidance on bedroom media environments.
Abstract

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