Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of physical activity, television program viewing and other forms of video viewing with the prevalence of obesity among school children.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SUBJECTS: 712 children, 9–16 y old, from a low- and a middle-income town in the Mexico City area.
MEASUREMENTS: Children completed a self administered questionnaire to assess time spent in physical activity and television viewing, and diet. Height weight and triceps skinfolds were measured. The outcome variable was obesity, and the covariates were hours of television programs and other video viewing, physical activity, energy intake, percentage of energy from fat, town of location of school, age, gender and perception of mother's weight status.
RESULTS: Among 461 children with complete information, 24% were classified as obese. Children reported an average of 4.1±2.2 h/d watching television (2.4±1.5 h/d for TV programs and 1.7±1.5 h/d for video cassette recorder (VCR) or videogames), and 1.8±1.3 h/d in moderate and vigorous physical activities. Odds ratios (OR) of obesity were 12% higher for each hour of television program viewing per day (OR=1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02,–1.22), and 10% lower for each hour of moderate/vigorous physical activity per day (OR=0.90, 95% CI 0.83–0:98), controlling for age, gender, town and perception of mother's weight status. Children in the middle-income town had higher adjusted odds of obesity (OR=2.58, 95% CI 1.47–4.54).
CONCLUSION: Physical activity and television viewing, but not VCR/videogames use, were related to obesity prevalence in Mexican children 9–16 y old.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hernández, B., Gortmaker, S., Colditz, G. et al. Association of obesity with physical activity, television programs and other forms of video viewing among children in Mexico City. Int J Obes 23, 845–854 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800962
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800962
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Childhood obesity risk increases with increased screen time: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (2023)
-
Prolonged screen watching behavior is associated with high blood pressure among children and adolescents: a systematic review and dose–response meta-analysis
Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition (2023)
-
Qualitative study of the association between psychosocial health and physical activity/sleep quality in toddlers
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Parent-adolescent agreement in reported moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic
BMC Public Health (2022)
-
Association of dietary intake, physical activity, and sedentary behaviours with overweight and obesity among 282,213 adolescents in 89 low and middle income to high-income countries
International Journal of Obesity (2021)