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. 2020 Nov 23;20(1):1769.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09897-7.

Associations of outdoor activity and screen time with adiposity: findings from rural Chinese adolescents with relatively low adiposity risks

Youjie Zhang  1 , Xiaofan Zhang  2 , Jun Li  2 , Hua Zhong  3 , Chen-Wei Pan  4
Affiliations

Associations of outdoor activity and screen time with adiposity: findings from rural Chinese adolescents with relatively low adiposity risks

Youjie Zhang et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Whether and to what extent outdoor activity and screen time are relevant to adiposity among rural adolescents remain largely unknown as most of relevant evidence was generated from high-income countries and urban areas. This study aimed to investigate associations of outdoor activity and screen time with adiposity among early adolescents living in rural southwest China.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, seventh graders (n = 2264) were recruited from 10 middle schools of a rural county. Overweight and obesity was assessed using adolescents' body mass index and waist circumference. Adolescents' outdoor activity and screen time were measured using self-reported daily time spending on outdoor activity, watching TV, playing video games, and computers on weekdays and weekends, respectively.

Results: The prevalence of overweight/obesity and high waist circumferences were 8.0 and 4.9% and were higher among those from one-child families and with parents having high school or higher education and whose fathers were not farmers. Adolescents who did not have ≥1 h outdoor activity on weekdays were more likely to be overweight/obese (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.66) and have high waist circumferences (OR: 2.22, 95%CI: 1.39, 3.57). Adolescents who had > 2 h screen time on weekends were more likely to have high waist circumferences (OR: 2.08, 95% CI: 1.14, 3.80). Lack of outdoor activity and excessive screen time also showed synergistic effects on overweight/obesity (OR: 1.93. 95% CI: 1.15, 3.24) and high waist circumferences (OR: 3.02, 95% CI: 1.54, 5.94).

Conclusions: Lack of outdoor activity and excessive screen time were relevant to adiposity among rural Chinese adolescents even when the obesity prevalence was low. Efforts to promote active lifestyles may help prevent rural adolescents from losing their advantage in the era of the global obesity epidemic.

Keywords: Early adolescents; Outdoor activity; Overweight and obesity; Rural; Screen time; Waist circumference.

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Conflict of interest statement

Prof. Chen-Wei Pan is a member of the editorial board of BMC Public Health. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Joint associations of weighted daily physical activity and screen time with adolescents’ (a) weight status and (b) waist circumference, after adjusting for adolescents’ age, sex, being the single child, ethnic minority, frequencies of fruit intake and vegetable intake, sleep time (≥ 8 h per day or not), parents’ education, and fathers’ occupation (*p < 0.01)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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