Screen Time, Sedentary Behavior, Nutrition Quotient and Weight Status among Elementary, Middle and High School Students in Chungbuk, Korea - An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study -
This exploratory cross-sectional study examined screen time, sedentary behavior, Nutrition Quotient (NQ) and weight status among 221 elementary, middle and high school students in Chungbuk, Korea. Weight status was recalculated from self-reported height and weight using the sex- and assumed-age-in-months-specific body mass index LMS values of the 2017 Korean National Growth Charts. Groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher’s exact tests, and associations with weight status were estimated by binary and ordinal logistic regression adjusted for sex and school level, with Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Total screen time increased across school levels (elementary 220.8, middle 390.4, high 418.7 min/day; p<0.001), whereas sedentary time did not differ. Overweight and obesity combined affected 29.0% of the students and increased with school level (p=0.007). Total screen time differed by weight status (p=0.002) and showed an increasing trend across categories (p<0.001), but this association was attenuated after adjustment and no longer significant; school level was the dominant correlate (high vs elementary, p=0.005). NQ was not associated with weight status. The apparent association between screen time and weight status appears to be largely explained by school level and should be regarded as hypothesis-generating.