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Respiratory symptoms and their correlations with BMI, TV‐watching time and physical activity in schoolchildren in Taipei, Taiwan.
Author(s) -
Tsai HsinJen,
Tsai Alan C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a622-a
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , percentile , asthma , demography , physical activity , pediatrics , obesity , physical therapy , statistics , mathematics , sociology
The study investigated the rates of respiratory symptoms (RS) and their associations with BMI, TV‐watching time, and physical activity (PA) in 5 th grade schoolchildren in Taipei, Taiwan. A survey questionnaire elicited height, weight, TV‐watching time, frequency of PA, and occurrences of RS of 2290 5 th grade schoolchildren. RS included persistent cough, chest tightness, wheezing with cold, wheezing without cold, dyspnea‐associated wheezing, and exercise‐induced cough or wheezing. Results showed that 31% of boys and 21% girls had BMI above 85 th percentile of Taiwanese standard. Around 30% of boys and 26% of girls watched TV >3 h/d, while 31% of boys and 18% of girls had PA >30 min/d. TV‐watching >3 h/d was positively associated with BMI >85 th percentile (aOR=1.45, 95% CI=1.11‐1.89) (P<0.01), but frequency of PA was not. Schoolchildren who were overweight (BMI >95 th percentile) were 47%–94% more likely to have RS (P<0.05). Watching TV for >3 h/d was associated with the higher rates of RS (P<0.05). PA for >30 min/d and >3 times/wk was associated with the lower rates of RS (P<0.05). Also, overweight was positively associated with the rate of suspected asthma in boys (aOR=1.56, 95% CI=1.07‐2.29) (P<0.05), but not in girls. Results suggest that longer TV‐watching time was positively associated with greater risk of being overweight. Overweight and TV‐watching time are positively associated with risk of RS, while habitual PA is negatively associated with risk of RS. Funding provided by University of Michigan.