Duration and Content Type of Smartphone Use in Relation to Diet and Adiposity in 53,133 Adolescents

Abstract

ObjectivesAlthough studies suggested that smartphone addiction increases the risk of obesity, it is unknown whether the duration and content type of smartphone use are independently associated with obesity and obesogenic dietary patterns. MethodsUsing a nationally representative sample of 53,133 Korean adolescents (age 12–18 years) in the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis examining the associations of duration and content type of smartphone use with dietary factors and prevalence of overweight. Duration and content type of smartphone use, dietary intakes, weight, and height were self-reported via online-based questionnaire. Overweight was defined as BMI-for-age ≥85th percentile based on the 2017 Korean National Growth Charts. Multivariable logistic regression was performed on 8 individual dietary factors (≥5 d/wk skipping breakfast, ≥7 times/wk fruits, ≥3 times/d vegetables, ≥3 times/wk fast-food, ramen, chips, soda, sugar-sweetened beverage) and the prevalence of overweight to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (Cls). All analyses accounted for complex survey sampling and adjusted for potential confounders. ResultsWith adjustment for content type of smartphone use, longer duration of smartphone use (≥5 vs. <2 h/d) was significantly associated with higher frequency of skipping breakfast (OR [CI]: 1.83 [1.72, 1.94]), higher intakes of fast-food (2.14 [1.98, 2.30]), ramen (2.12[1.98, 2.27]), chips (1.43 [1.34, 1.52]), soda (2.34 [2.19, 2.50]), sugar-sweetened beverage (1.88 [1.78, 1.99]), lower intakes of fruits (0.61 [0.57, 0.65]) and vegetables (0.69 [0.64, 0.75]), and higher prevalence of overweight (1.23 [1.15, 1.31]) (all p-trend < 0.001). Compared with using smartphone for information search/retrieval, using messenger, game, entertainment, and SNS were significantly associated with higher intakes of soda and sugar-sweetened beverage, adjusting for duration of smartphone use (all P < 0.05). Game, entertainment, and comics/fiction (vs. information search/retrieval) were associated with higher prevalence of overweight (all P < 0.001). ConclusionsOur data suggest the duration and content type of smartphone use are independently associated with obesogenic dietary patterns and the prevalence of overweight in a dose-response manner. Funding SourcesNRF Korea.