The association between television viewing and childhood obesity: A national survey in Thailand

Abstract

Objective: To determine the relationship between television viewing and obesity among Thai children. Design: A one-stage cross-sectional national survey. Setting: National communities in Thailand. Subjects: Four thousand one hundred and ninety-seven children aged 6 to 12 years old. Results: By using the new national growth reference as a normative data, 262 (6.2%) children in this survey were obese. According to the caregivers, 62 per cent of children watched television 1 to 3 hours per day. Children who spent more than 3 hours per day watching television were more likely to be obese than the children who watched television less with the odd ratio of 1.8 (95% confidence interval = 1.2-2.8). Conclusion: With a one-stage design for determining the association between television viewing and childhood obesity, Thai school age children who watched television more than 3 hours per day were more likely to be obese with statistical significance.