Media Use among Nonsmoker Women Increases Overweight Risk: Results from a Large Cross-Sectional Population Based Study in Brazil

In general, smokers weigh less than nonsmokers. By the other hand, individuals who spend more time watching television are prone to be more overweight or obese. The aim was to investigate the associations between media use (television viewing) and overweight or obesity among smokers and nonsmokers women. The analysis included data of 14,987 non pregnant adult women (18-49 years) from the “2006’s National and Demographic Health Survey” (PNDS-2006). This is a cross-sectional study, designed as a house-hold survey with a probabilistic sample of women in childbearing age from Brazil. Overweight and obesity, estimated by body mass index, were the outcomes. The main co-variable was media use, measured as frequency of television view (do not watch, less than one time per month, at least one time per month, almost everyday, every day). Data was collected trough questionnaires. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for overweight and obesity were estimated using multinomial logistic regression. Adjustments were made for age group, family income, parity, race and marital status. Prevalence of obesity was significantly higher among smokers who related to watch television everyday (16.52, 95% CI: 14.81-18.38) than those who related not to watch (6.25, 95% CI: 2.62-14.16). In the non adjusted model, smokers that watch television almost everyday had an increase in the odds of obesity (OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.2-9.0) compared with those who reported no use. The same was showed for those who watch every day (OR: 3.1, 95%CI: 1.2-7.9). In the adjusted model however, watching television at least one time per week increased the odds of overweight among nonsmokers (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.6). The results indicate that watching television may increase the odds of overweight, among non smoker women. More detailed information on media use, as hours per day, may offer better estimations.