Early childhood TV viewing and subsequent BMI trajectories to mid-adulthood in the 1970 British Cohort Study

TL;DRAbstract

Objective: To investigate whether TV viewing more than recommended thresholds (<2 hours/day) in early childhood is associated with trajectories of overweight and obesity (OW/OB). Methods: Participants from the 1970 British Cohort Study with complete BMI data at age 10, 26-30, 34 and 42 years (n=4174; 2392 females) were selected and their BMI classified according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-points. Trajectories of OW/OB were categorised as: "never OW/OB", "mid-adulthood onset" (OW/OB at 42 years only), "early adulthood onset" (OW/OB from 26, 30, or 34 years), "always OW/OB", and "other". Of those selected participants, 3347 (1926 females) had information on TV viewing at 5 years and were included for analysis. Multinomial logistic regression was used to assess associations between excessive TV viewing (≥2 hours/day) and trajectories of OW/OB (outcome). Results: More boys watched TV for ≥2 hours/day at 5 years than girls (32.3% versus 28.3%; p=0.01). Excessive TV viewi

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper