Abstract
BackgroundTV time and total sedentary time have been positively related to biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk in adults. We aim to examine the association of TV time and computer time separately with cardiometabolic biomarkers in young adults. Additionally, the mediating role of waist circumference (WC) is studied.Methods and FindingsData of 634 Dutch young adults (18–28 years; 39% male) were used. Cardiometabolic biomarkers included indicators of overweight, blood pressure, blood levels of fasting plasma insulin, cholesterol, glucose, triglycerides and a clustered cardiometabolic risk score. Linear regression analyses were used to assess the cross-sectional association of self-reported TV and computer time with cardiometabolic biomarkers, adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors. Mediation by WC was checked using the product-of-coefficient method.TV time was significantly associated with triglycerides (B = 0.004; CI = [0.001;0.05]) and insulin (B = 0.10; CI = [0.01;0.20]). Computer time was not significantly associated with any of the cardiometabolic biomarkers. We found no evidence for WC to mediate the association of TV time or computer time with cardiometabolic biomarkers.ConclusionsWe found a significantly positive association of TV time with cardiometabolic biomarkers. In addition, we found no evidence for WC as a mediator of this association. Our findings suggest a need to distinguish between TV time and computer time within future guidelines for screen time.
Highlights
Sedentary behaviour, especially TV viewing, has been indicated as an important lifestyle risk factor of type 2 diabetes and CVD, independently of physical activity [1,2,3]
Our findings suggest a need to distinguish between TV time and computer time within future guidelines for screen time
waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), skinfold thickness, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), insulin, glucose, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and the clustered cardiometabolic risk score were significantly higher for males than for females
Summary
Especially TV viewing, has been indicated as an important lifestyle risk factor of type 2 diabetes and CVD, independently of physical activity [1,2,3]. Only two studies in adults examined the association of other sedentary activities than TV viewing with risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus [9,10]. In the study of Hu et al [9] among US women (aged 30–55 years), TV viewing, sitting at work and passive transport were significantly positively associated with increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Other sedentary behaviours, such as sitting while eating and reading, were significantly positively associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes, but not obesity [9]. The mediating role of waist circumference (WC) is studied
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