Television viewing practices and obesity among women veterans.

Johnson KM, Nelson KM, Bradley KA. Television viewing practices and obesity among women veterans. Journal of general internal medicine. 2006 Mar 1; 21 Suppl 3:S76-81.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• GEN 97-022 – Veterans Women's Alcohol Problems: Prevalence, Screening and Self-Help

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Obesity is epidemic in the U.S. and has been associated with television viewing. OBJECTIVE: To describe the association between obesity and television viewing practices among women veterans. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional, mailed survey completed by 1,555 female veterans enrolled at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in 2000. MEASUREMENTS AND METHODS: We used bivariate and multivariate analyses to assess the association of obesity (body mass index > 30 kg/m2 based on self-reported height and weight) with self-reported number of hours of television or videos viewed per day, and frequency of eating meals or snacking while watching television, controlling for other covariates. RESULTS: Watching television > 2 hours per typical day on week days and/or weekends was associated with obesity (P < .001), as was eating or snacking while watching television (P = .003). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, watching television > 2 hours per day and eating or snacking while watching television were each associated with obesity (odds ratio [OR] 1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 1.8; and OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0 to 1.7, respectively), after adjusting for demographic variables, smoking, physical activity, and depression. Results were similar when posttraumatic stress disorder was included in the model instead of depression. Women who both watched > 2 hours of television per day and ate or snacked while viewing were almost twice as likely to be obese (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.4 to 2.6). CONCLUSION: Watching television over 2 hours per day and eating while watching television were each associated with obesity among female VA patients and may be modifiable risk factors for obesity.