Watching television and physical activity and its’ association with metabolic syndrome: a population-based study in a developing country

Changes in lifestyle, inactivity, and resulting obesity in adults increase the risk of chronic diseases and associated morbidity and mortality. This study investigated the relationship between hours of watching TV and the profiles of serum lipids and sugar and metabolic syndrome, considering the hours of watching TV as an indicator of inactivity.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Mashhad, Iran, on 2978 adults. The stratified, random cluster sampling method was used. The demographic information of participants along with information related to their time watching TV and the serum lipid and serum sugar profiles were collected. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 11.5. Descriptive statistical tests, Mann–Whitney, Kruskal–Wallis, and Spearman's correlation test, and multivariate logistic regression were used in data analysis.

The average age of the participants was 44.11 ± 14.82 years, and the average time watching TV was 3.66 ± 2.53 h per day. There was a statistically significant direct correlation between the hours of watching TV and the level of serum fasting blood sugar (r = 0.4, p < 0.001), serum cholesterol (r = 0.22, p < 0.001), serum triglyceride (r = 0.49, p < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein (r = 0.09, p < 0.001), and high-density lipoprotein (r = 0.35, p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression showed that hours watching TV differed between individuals with and without metabolic syndrome.

Higher levels of serum fasting blood sugar, serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, LDL, and serum HDL were related to more hours of watching TV. As a result, reducing the time of watching TV can be valuable in the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. Therefore, more rigorous public health policies are needed to encourage adults to decrease the time they spend watching TV.