Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in the early years (aged 0–4 years)
- 1 August 2012
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
- Vol. 37 (4), 753-772
- https://doi.org/10.1139/h2012-063
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests that young children spend excessive time being sedentary. The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the relationship between sedentary behaviours and health indicators during the early years (ages 0–4 years). Using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework, this review aimed to present the best available evidence on the threshold of sedentary behaviour associated with healthy measures of adiposity, bone health, motor skill development, psychosocial health, cognitive development, and cardiometabolic health indicators in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Online databases, personal libraries, and government documents were searched for relevant studies. Studies that included an intervention (or experimental) group or prospective analysis were included. Twenty-one unique studies, representing 23 papers and 22 417 participants, met inclusion criteria; 7 studies included information on infants, 13 on toddlers, and 10 on preschoolers. Of these, 11, 6, and 8 studies reported data on adiposity, psychosocial health, and cognitive development, respectively. No included study reported on motor skill development, bone, or cardiometabolic health indicators. In conclusion, this review found low- to moderate-quality evidence to suggest that increased television viewing is associated with unfavourable measures of adiposity and decreased scores on measures of psychosocial health and cognitive development. No evidence existed to indicate that television viewing is beneficial for improving psychosocial health or cognitive development. In several instances a dose–response relationship was evident between increased time spent watching television and decreased psychosocial health or cognitive development. This work may be used as evidence to inform public health guidelines. (PROSPERO registration: CRD4011001280.)Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- GRADE guidelines: 9. Rating up the quality of evidenceJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2011
- Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in school-aged children and youthInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2011
- Infant Media Exposure and Toddler DevelopmentArchives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 2010
- Association between neighborhood socioeconomic status and screen time among pre-school children: a cross-sectional studyBMC Public Health, 2010
- Compliance with physical activity guidelines in preschool childrenJournal of Sports Sciences, 2010
- Associations of Television Content Type and Obesity in ChildrenAmerican Journal of Public Health, 2010
- Early Television Exposure and Children's Behavioral and Social Outcomes at Age 30 MonthsJournal of Epidemiology, 2010
- Reenactment of televised content by 2-year olds: Toddlers use language learned from television to solve a difficult imitation problemInfant Behavior and Development, 2008
- Risk factors for obesity in 7-year-old European children: the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative StudyArchives of Disease in Childhood, 2007
- Impact of television on childrenIndian Journal of Pediatrics, 1994