Screen Exposure and Body Mass Index Status in 2- to 11-Year-Old Children

Objective. To measure the relationship between screen exposure and obesity in a large, urban sample of children and to examine whether the relationship is moderated by sociodemographics. Methods. We asked parents of 11 141 children visiting general pediatrics clinics if the child had a television (T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical pediatrics 2014-06, Vol.53 (6), p.593-600
Main Authors: Hendrix, Kristin S., Carroll, Aaron E., Downs, Stephen M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body Mass Index
Child
Child, Preschool
Childrens health
Computers
Decision Support Systems, Clinical
Female
Health risk assessment
Humans
Life Style
Logistic Models
Male
Obesity
Obesity - epidemiology
Risk Factors
Television
Television - statistics & numerical data
Urban Population
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Summary:Objective. To measure the relationship between screen exposure and obesity in a large, urban sample of children and to examine whether the relationship is moderated by sociodemographics. Methods. We asked parents of 11 141 children visiting general pediatrics clinics if the child had a television (TV) in the bedroom and/or watched more than 2 hours of TV/computer daily. We measured children’s height and weight, then used logistic regression to determine whether screen exposure indicators predicted obesity (body mass index ≥85th percentile) and interacted with race/ethnicity, sex, age, and health care payer. Results. Having a TV in the bedroom predicted obesity risk (P = .01); however, watching TV/computer for more than 2 hours a day did not (P = 0.54). There were no interactions. Conclusions. Asking whether a child has a TV in the bedroom may be more important than asking about duration of screen exposure to predict risk for obesity.
ISSN:0009-9228
1938-2707
DOI:10.1177/0009922814526973