Associations Between Leisure-Time Sedentary Behaviors with Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors and Leisure-Time Physical Activity Among Chinese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract Objectives Evidence that sedentary behaviors were correlated with unhealthy diet and physical activity were mostly among children and adolescents, but still limited for adults. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between screen-based leisure-time sedentary behaviors (LTSB) including television time and computer time with unhealthy dietary behaviors, and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) among Chinese adults. Methods Participants (n = 10,108, aged 18–59 years) from a recent cross-sectional study of CHNS (China Health and Nutrition Survey) conducted in 2015 were analyzed. Time spent in LTSB and LTPA were collected from questionnaire. Unhealthy dietary behaviors were collected from three consecutive 24-hour food recalls and the food frequency method. Multivariable logistic regression models were produced to study the odds ratios for unhealthy dietary behaviors and LTPA as the function of the quintile of LTSB. Results Versus the lowest quartile, the OR(95%CI) of the highest quintile of computer time for insufficient vegetable intake (< 300 g/d) was 1.4(1.0,2.0) for male and 1.5(1.1,2.2) for female; the OR(95%CI) for excessive snack intake (≥1 time/day) was 1.6(1.0,2.3) for male and 1.7(1.3,2.4) for female; the OR(95%CI) for excessive western fast food intake (≥1 time/week) was 2.4(1.2,4.4) for male and 2.7(1.4,4.9) for female. The OR(95%CI) of the highest quintile of television time for no LTPA group (0 Mets.h/w) was 1.8(1.3,2.6) for male and 1.5(1.1,2.0) for female; the OR(95%CI) for sufficient LTPA group (≥8 Mets.h/w) was 0.5(0.4,0.8) for male and 0.7(0.5,0.9) for female. The OR(95%CI) of the highest quintile of computer time for no LTPA group (0 Mets.h/w) was 0.4(0.3,0.6) for male and 0.5(0.4,0.7) for female; the OR(95%CI) for sufficient LTPA (≥8 Mets.h/w) group was 2.4(1.7,3.3) for male and was 2.1(1.5,2.9) for female. Conclusions LTSB were associated with unhealthy dietary behaviors and mixed LTPA among Chinese adults. The patterns of “Television time-less LTPA” and “Computer time-unhealthy diet-more LTPA” for Chinese adults were principal associations. Our findings suggest the need for different behavior preventive intervention on different types of screen-based LTSB among Chinese adults. Funding Sources The survey received funding from NIH and from Ministry of Finance of the People's Republic of China.