Associations Between Television Time and activPAL-Measured Duration and Pattern of Sedentary Time Among Pregnant Women at Risk of Gestational Diabetes in the UK

Abstract

Background: Television (TV) time is associated with poor cardiometabolic health outcomes. This finding is commonly attributed to duration of sitting or patterns of sitting associated with high TV time, but there is very little evidence on this link. Methods: Pregnant women (n = 167) at risk of gestational diabetes wore an activPAL accelerometer and self-reported their usual TV time in the second trimester. Generalized linear mixed models were used to compare objectively measured total sedentary time (ST), prolonged ST (bouts ≥30 min), and breaks in ST for all hours and evening hours (6 PM–11 PM) between those with high (≥2 h/d) and low TV time. Results: Over all waking hours, those with high TV time had fewer breaks in ST than those with low TV time, exp(b) 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 0.998; there were no differences in total ST or prolonged ST between the 2 groups. Those with high TV time had significantly higher evening ST (b = 9.9; 95% confidence interval, 0.5 to 19.2); there were no differences in prolonged ST or breaks in ST during evening hours. Conclusions: These findings suggest that high TV time may be associated with higher evening ST and fewer breaks in ST. The link between TV time and sitting patterns requires further investigation.

Objective and subjective measurement of sedentary behavior in human adults: A toolkit

“…Troiano et al ( 2012 ) describe different ways in which these approaches can be used together: combined, linked, or integrated. The combined approach, used often in epidemiological studies with health‐related outcomes, includes the use of both objective and subjective measurements to explore differences in effects and to understand possible sources of variation in total sedentary time (eg, Stamatakis, Davis, et al, 2012 ; Wagnild et al, 2019 ; Wagnild & Pollard, 2020 ; Wennman, Vasankari, & Borodulin, 2016 ). The linked approach involves, for example, the use of logs or diaries concurrently with accelerometry to match behaviors with accelerometer data through matching time‐stamps (eg, Edwardson et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Second, the measurement of time spent in a specific sedentary behavior cannot be extrapolated as an estimate of total sedentary time. For example, television time is often used as a proxy for total sedentary time and this is problematic because these two constructs are only weakly correlated (Clark et al, 2011 ; Clark et al, 2015 ; Wagnild & Pollard, 2020 ).…”

A self-efficacy-enhancing physical activity intervention in women with high-risk factors for gestational diabetes mellitus: study protocol for a randomized clinical trial

“…14.8% of all women in mainland China were diagnosed with GDM in 2020 [ 8 ]. Well-recognized risk factors for GDM include higher maternal age, higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), family history of type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, hypothyroidism, previous macrosomia, ethnicity, certain lifestyle factors, and GDM or glucose intolerance in previous pregnancies [ 9 – 11 ]. Women with a combination of risk factors will have an even greater increased risk of GDM.…”