Television Viewing and Changes in Body Mass Index and Cardiorespiratory Fitness Over a Two-Year Period in Schoolchildren
in Pediatric Exercise ScienceClick name to view affiliation
The aim of this study was twofold (1), to examine the prospective relationship of baseline TV viewing with BMI and CRF both at baseline and over a 2-year period, and (2) to examine the prospective relationship of baseline TV viewing and changes (Δ) on BMI and CRF over a 2-year period. Data were collected in a sample of 135 (64 girls) rural children ages 7 yr-old from elementary schools in Fundao, Portugal. Obesity status was obtained by the age-sex specific BMI cut points and CRF by a 9 min run test. TV viewing was also analyzed and children were assigned as one of two groups: the low TV watching (LTV), and high TV watching (HTV), users based upon them reported to spend less or more than 2 h/day watching TV, respectively. Logistic regression showed that those who were assigned to HTV group were 2.4 times (OR = 2.48; p = .04) more likely to be classified as unfit at time 1. Further the data showed that the LTV were more likely (OR = 0.36; p = .02) to be classified in high ΔCRF change over time. The findings of this study suggest that there was a significant inverse association between times spent watching TV and CRF but not BMI over a 2-yr period.
Mota, Ribeiro, Carvalho, Santos, and Martins are with the Research Centre in Physical Activity Leisure and Health, Faculty of Sports, Porto University, Porto, Portugal.
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