title: Effects of television viewing on body fatness among Chinese children and adolescents.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, the First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Li-qiang
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Xin-gang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guo-zhe
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiao-fan
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Sha-sha
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ying-xian
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006184:Habits; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013690:Television; D055105:Waist Circumference