Screen time increases overweight and obesity risk among adolescents: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis

• Published in: BMC family practice Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 161 - 24
• Main Authors: Haghjoo, Purya, Siri, Goli, Soleimani, Ensiye, Farhangi, Mahdieh Abbasalizad, Alesaeidi, Samira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 28.06.2022; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adiposity; Adolescent; Behavior; Bias; Body mass index; Child development; Computer & video games; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Dose-response; Exercise; Health aspects; Humans; Meta-analysis; Metabolism; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity in adolescence; Overweight; Overweight - epidemiology; Risk factors; Screen Time; Sedentary behavior; Standard deviation; Systematic review; Teenagers; Television and children; Iran; Obesity; Screen time; Dose-response; Adiposity; Meta-analysis; Overweight
• ISSN: 2731-4553; 2731-4553; 1471-2296
• DOI: 10.1186/s12875-022-01761-4

Adolescence is a critical period in human life, associated with reduced physical activity and increased sedentary behaviors. In this systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis, we evaluated the association between screen time and risk of overweight/obesity among adolescents. A systematic search in electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, and Scopus was performed up to September 2021. All published studies evaluating the association between screen time and risk of overweight/obesity among adolescents were retrieved. Finally, a total of 44 eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis. The results of the two-class meta-analysis showed that adolescents at the highest category of screen time were 1.27 times more likely to develop overweight/obesity (OR = 1.273; 95% CI = 1.166-1.390; P < 0.001; I-squared (variation in ES attributable to heterogeneity) = 82.1%). The results of subgrouping showed that continent and setting were the possible sources of heterogeneity. Moreover, no evidence of non-linear association between increased screen time and risk of overweight/obesity among adolescents was observed (P-nonlinearity = 0.311). For the first time, the current systematic review and meta-analysis revealed a positive association between screen time and overweight/obesity among adolescents without any dose-response evidence. The protocol of the current work has been registered in the PROSPERO system (Registration number: CRD42021233899 ).