Objective: To verify the association between sleep duration and television time with cardiometabolic risk and the moderating role of age, gender, and skin color/ethnicity in this relationship among adolescents.
Methods: Cross-sectional study with 1411 adolescents (800 girls) aged 10 to 17 years. Television time, sleep duration, age, gender, and skin color/ethnicity were obtained by self-reported questionnaire. Cardiometabolic risk was evaluated using the continuous metabolic risk score, by the sum of the standard z-score values for each risk factor: high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, glycemia, cardiorespiratory fitness, systolic blood pressure, and waist circumference. Generalized linear regression models were used.
Results: There was an association between television time and cardiometabolic risk (β, 0.002; 95% CI, 0.001; 0.003). Short sleep duration (β, 0.422; 95% CI, 0.012; 0.833) was positively associated with cardiometabolic risk. Additionally, age moderated the relationship between television time and cardiometabolic risk (β, - 0.009; 95% CI, - 0.002; - 0.001), suggesting that this relationship was stronger at ages 11 and 13 years (β, 0.004; 95% CI, 0.001; 0.006) compared to 13 to 15 years (β, 0.002; 95% CI, 0.001; 0.004). No association was found in older adolescents (β, 0.001; 95% CI, - 0.002; 0.002).
Conclusions: Television time and sleep duration are associated with cardiometabolic risk; adolescents with short sleep have higher cardiometabolic risk. In addition, age plays a moderating role in the relationship between TV time and cardiometabolic risk, indicating that in younger adolescents the relationship is stronger compared to older ones.
Keywords: Sleep; Television; Metabolic syndrome; Adolescent.