Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate relationships between frequency of physical activity or television viewing and body mass index (BMI) cross-sectionally at six ages from childhood to adulthood, to better understand longitudinal relationships. To investigate how the relationships vary with age and gender and whether any relationships are due to confounding factors.
METHODS:
The 1958 British birth cohort includes all births (approximately 17 000) in one week in March 1958. BMI and physical activity frequency were recorded at 11, 16, 23, 33 and 42 y and television viewing frequency at 11, 16 and 23 y. A total of 11 109 subjects provided BMI and activity data at 42 y. Relationships between BMI and (in)activity were investigated using linear regression.
RESULTS:
At ages 11, 33 and 42 y in both sexes and at 23 y in female subjects, those who were more active had lower BMIs, and the relationships strengthened with age. At 42 y, the most active had a lower mean BMI than the least active, by 0.83 kg/m2 in men, and 1.03 kg/m2 in women. BMI and activity were unrelated at 16 y in female subjects, and 23 y in male subjects. At 16 y in males, the most active males had a mean BMI 0.25 kg/m2 higher than the least active. At 11 y in female subjects and 23 y in both sexes, those who watched television most frequently had higher BMIs. BMI and television viewing were unrelated at 11 y in males and at 16 y in both sexes. Relationships between BMI and activity or television viewing were largely unexplained by potential confounding factors.
CONCLUSIONS:
The relationship between BMI and physical activity changes with age. In early adolescence and in adulthood, a higher activity level, or lower frequency of television viewing was associated with a lower BMI. In later adolescence (16 y), television viewing and activity were unrelated to BMI, except for an unexpected BMI–activity relationship in males. We suspect this relationship in males is primarily due to selection effects, whereby physically bigger boys, with a larger BMI, are more likely to take part in exercise activity, and possibly also to BMI being a less accurate predictor of fatness in adolescent boys.
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
References
Fogelholm M, Kukkonen-Harjula K . Does physical activity prevent weight gain—a systematic review. Obes Rev 2000; 1: 95–111.
Andersen RE, Crespo CJ, Bartlett SJ, Cheskin LJ, Pratt M . Relationship of physical activity and television watching with body weight and level of fatness among children results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. JAMA 1998; 279: 938–942.
Kronenberg F, Pereira MA, Schmitz MK, Arnett DK, Evenson KR, Crapo RO, Jensen RL, Burke GL, Sholinsky P, Ellison RC, Hunt SC . Influence of leisure time physical activity and television watching on atherosclerosis risk factors in the NHLBI Family Heart Study. Atherosclerosis 2000; 153: 433–443.
Goran MI, Shewchuk R, Gower BA, Nagy TR, Carpenter WH, Johnson RK . Longitudinal changes in fatness in white children: no effect of childhood energy expenditure [see comments]. Am J Clin Nutr 1998; 67: 309–316.
Health Survey for England: Cardiovascular disease ‘98. The Stationary Office, London, 1999, http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/survey98/hse98.htm.
Anderssen N, Jacobs DR, Sidney S, Bild DE, Sternfeld B, Slattery ML, Hannan P . Change and secular trends in physical activity patterns in young adults: a seven-year longitudinal follow-up in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study (CARDIA). Am J Epidemiol 1996; 143: 351–362.
Raitakari OT, Porkka KV, Taimela S, Telama R, Rasanen L, Viikari JS . Effects of persistent physical activity and inactivity on coronary risk factors in children and young adults. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Am J Epidemiol 1994; 140: 195–205.
Erlichman J, Kerbey AL, James WP . Physical activity and its impact on health outcomes. Paper 2: Prevention of unhealthy weight gain and obesity by physical activity: an analysis of the evidence. Obes Rev 2002; 3: 273–287.
Health Survey for England: The Health of Young People ‘95–97. The Stationary Office, London, 1998, http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/survey97/hse95.htm.
Kemper HC, Post GB, Twisk JW, Van Mechelen W . Lifestyle and obesity in adolescence and young adulthood: results from the Amsterdam Growth And Health Longitudinal Study (AGAHLS). Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999; 23 (Suppl 3): S34–S40.
Social Trends 31. The Stationary Office, London, 2001, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/products/p5748.asp.
Wake M, Hesketh K, Waters E . Television, computer use and body mass index in Australian primary school children. J Paediatr Child Health 2003; 39: 130–134.
Ferri E . Life at 33: the fifth follow-up of the National Child Development Study. National Children's Bureau: London; 1993.
Lake JK . Body size in child and adulthood: implications for adult health. UCL, University of London: London; 1998.
Power C, Moynihan C . Social class and changes in weight-for-height between childhood and early adulthood. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1988; 12: 445–453.
Parsons TJ, Manor O, Power C . Changes in diet and physical activity in the 1990s in a large British sample (1958 birth cohort). Eur J Clin Nutr 2005; 59: 49–56.
Spencer EA, Appleby PN, Davey GK, Key TJ . Validity of self-reported height and weight in 4808 EPIC-Oxford participants. Public Health Nutr 2002; 5: 561–565.
Sallis JF, Prochaska JJ, Taylor WC . A review of correlates of physical activity of children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000; 32: 963–975.
Saris WH, Blair SN, van Baak MA, Eaton SB, Davies PS, Di Pietro L, Fogelholm M, Rissanen A, Schoeller D, Swinburn B, Tremblay A, Westerterp KR, Wyatt H . How much physical activity is enough to prevent unhealthy weight gain? Outcome of the IASO 1st Stock Conference and consensus statement. Obes Rev 2003; 4: 101–114.
Field AE, Manson JE, Taylor CB, Willett WC, Colditz GA . Association of weight change, weight control practices, and weight cycling among women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28: 1134–1142.
Uitenbroek DG, McShane DP . Leisure time physical activity in Scotland: trends 1987–1991 and the effect of question wording. Soz Praventivmed 1992; 37: 113–117.
Allied Dunbar Health and Fitness Survey. A report on activity patterns and fitness levels. Sports Council and Health Education Authority: London; 1992.
Jacobs DR, Hahn LP, Folsom AR, Hannan PJ, Sprafka JM, Burke GL . Time trends in leisure-time physical activity in the upper midwest 1957–1987: University of Minnesota studies. Epidemiology 1991; 2: 8–15.
Malina RM . Physical growth and biological maturation of young athletes. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 1994; 22: 389–433.
Brewer J, Balsom PD, Davis JA . Seasonal birth distribution amongst European soccer players. Sports, Exerc Injury 1995; 1: 154–157.
Simmons C, Paull GC . Season-of-birth bias in association football. J Sports Sci 2001; 19: 677–686.
Post GB, Kemper HC . Nutrient intake and biological maturation during adolescence. The Amsterdam growth and health longitudinal study. Eur J Clin Nutr 1993; 47: 400–408.
Armstrong N . School sport and competition: sports physiology. Perspectives 1999; 1: 85–98.
Parsons TJ, Power C, Logan S, Summerbell CD . Childhood predictors of adult obesity: a systematic review. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999; 23 (Suppl 8): S1–S107.
Berkey CS, Rockett HR, Field AE, Gillman MW, Frazier AL, Camargo-CA J, Colditz GA . Activity, dietary intake, and weight changes in a longitudinal study of preadolescent and adolescent boys and girls. Pediatrics 2000; 105: E56.
Power C, Manor O, Matthews S . Child to adult socioeconomic conditions and obesity in a national cohort. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2003; 27: 1081–1086.
Crespo CJ, Ainsworth BE, Keteyian SJ, Heath GW, Smit E . Prevalence of physical inactivity and its relation to social class in U.S. adults: results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–1994. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1999; 31: 1821–1827.
Lindquist CH, Reynolds KD, Goran MI . Sociocultural determinants of physical activity among children. Prev Med 1999; 29: 305–312.
Salmon J, Bauman A, Crawford D, Timperio A, Owen N . The association between television viewing and overweight among Australian adults participating in varying levels of leisure-time physical activity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2000; 24: 600–606.
Gortmaker SL, Must A, Sobol AM, Peterson K, Colditz GA, Dietz WH . Television viewing as a cause of increasing obesity among children in the United States, 1986–1990. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1996; 150: 356–362.
Sidney S, Sternfeld B, Haskell WL, Jacobs Jr DR, Chesney MA, Hulley SB . Television viewing and cardiovascular risk factors in young adults: the CARDIA study. Ann Epidemiol 1996; 6: 154–159.
Crawford DA, Jeffery RW, French SA . Television viewing, physical inactivity and obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999; 23: 437–440.
Acknowledgements
Tessa J Parsons holds a Medical Research Council Special Training Fellowship in Health Services and Health of the Public Research. Some of the analyses for this paper were funded by The Department of Health (England); the views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the sponsors. Data obtained from the UK Data Archive, University of Essex (files: National Child Development Study, SN 3148, SN 4396). Data providers: Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education and National Birthday Trust Fund, National Children's Bureau, City University Social Statistics Research Unit (original data producers).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Parsons, T., Power, C. & Manor, O. Physical activity, television viewing and body mass index: a cross-sectional analysis from childhood to adulthood in the 1958 British cohort. Int J Obes 29, 1212–1221 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802932
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802932
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Estimating Parental Demand for Children’s Screen Time in a Model of Family Labor Supply
International Advances in Economic Research (2022)
-
Future directions in cancer prevention
Nature Reviews Cancer (2012)
-
Health-Related Behaviors: A Study Among Former Young Caregivers
Journal of Adult Development (2012)
-
Television viewing and obesity: a prospective study in the 1958 British birth cohort
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2008)
-
Food behaviors and other strategies to prevent and treat pediatric overweight
International Journal of Obesity (2005)