Combined associations of television viewing and physical activity with overweight/obesity in Taiwanese elderly adults

This study investigated the combined association of TV viewing and physical activity (PA) with overweight/obesity in Taiwanese elderly adults. A telephone-based survey was conducted in 2013. Self-reported data (height, weight, TV viewing time, and PA time), were collected from a nationally representative sample of 1031 adults aged >55 years. Unadjusted and adjusted binary logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) of overweight/obesity (BMI≥25kg/m2) according to four combined TV (2h/day) and PA (150min/week) categories. In total, 60.4% of the sample was overweight/obese. After adjustment for potential confounders, significantly higher ORs of overweight/obesity were observed in the high TV/sufficient PA (OR=1.96; 95% CI=1.31-2.95) and high TV/insufficient PA (OR=1.93; 95% CI=1.34-2.78), categories compared with the low TV/sufficient PA category. Consistent with those in high-income countries, Taiwanese elderly adults, who engage in more than two hours of TV viewing per day, are at a higher risk of being overweight/obese, regardless of whether they meet PA recommendations. Additional studies are required to identify at-risk populations and the associated correlates of prolonged TV viewing to design effective interventions.