Cardiometabolic risk factors and TV watching in a rural community in West Bengal, India

Abstract

Background: No study has been undertaken among rural adult population of India to investigate the association of cardiometabolic risk factors with TV watching.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 1007 participants (645 males and 362 females) aged 20-80 years from a rural community. Anthropometric measures were collected using standard techniques. HOMA-IR was calculated accordingly.

Results: The significant higher value for MWC, WHtR, TER, SF4, BMI, %BF, FM, VFL, IVF, TC, LDL and FBG was observed with increasing duration of TV watching. No significant change was observed for TG, HDL, VLDL, DBP and MAP. Chi-square revealed significant difference for central obesity between male and females across TV watching category. The higher metabolic syndrome phenotypes were prevalent among both sexes with increasing duration of TV watching. Furthermore, multiple regression analyses (stepwise) revealed that occupation, monthly income, duration of TV watching in a day, education and monthly expenditure cumulatively explained ∼19% (R(2)=0.191) of the total variance of % body fat in the study.

Conclusion: It seems rational to argue that lengthy TV watching time might have detrimental effect on CVD health.

Keywords: Asian Indians; CVD; Central obesity; Diabetes; Metabolic syndrome.