Screen time

Total screen time, as an indicator of sedentary behaviour, showed significant association with overweight and obesity. Total screen time increased significantly by age (higher in school children than in pre-school children) and showed large variation between countries.
According to the present data the recommendation of <1 hour/day screen time for kindergarten children and <2 hours/day screen time for school children seems to be reasonable.

Following articles from our consortium show further results on media consumption and sedentary behaviour:

• de Moraes AC, Carvalho HB, Siani A, Barba G, Veidebaum T, Tornaritis M, et al. Incidence of high blood pressure in children - effects of physical activity and sedentary behaviors: the IDEFICS study: High blood pressure, lifestyle and children. Int J Cardiol. 2015;180:165-70.
• Hinkley T, Verbestel V, Ahrens W, Lissner L, Molnar D, Moreno LA, et al. Early childhood electronic media use as a predictor of poorer well-being: a prospective cohort study. JAMA Pediatr. 2014;168(5):485-92.
• Verbestel V, De Henauw S, Bammann K, Barba G, Hadjigeorgiou C, Eiben G, et al. Are context-specific measures of parental-reported physical activity and sedentary behaviour associated with accelerometer data in 2-9-year-old European children? Public Health Nutr. 2015;18(5):860-8.
• Santaliestra-Pasias AM, Mouratidou T, Verbestel V, Bammann K, Molnar D, Sieri S, et al. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in European children: the IDEFICS study. Public Health Nutr. 2014;17(10):2295-306.
• Lissner L, Lanfer A, Gwozdz W, Olafsdottir S, Eiben G, Moreno LA, et al. Television habits in relation to overweight, diet and taste preferences in European children: the IDEFICS study. Eur J Epidemiol. 2012;27(9):705-15.