Temporal trend of sedentary behavior in adolescents: A 10-year analysis

The aim of the study was to describe the temporal trend of excessive exposure to sedentary behaviors (SB) and analyze its relationship with sociodemographic factors in adolescents. This study was collected in three waves: 2006 (n = 4,207); 2011 (n = 6,264) and 2016 (n = 6,026). Excessive exposure to sedentary behavior (SB) was operationalized from the following indicators: i) watching television (TV); and ii) SB (except TV). Differences in the prevalence of excessive exposure to sedentary behavior indicators between the collection waves were tested through the intersection of confidence intervals (95%CI). Binary logistic regression was used to assess possible changes in the prevalence of excessive exposure to TV and SB and to analyze its association with sociodemographic factors. Over 10 years, the prevalence of excessive exposure to TV decreased by 23.0 percentage points (79.1% vs. 56.1%), being higher in boys (81.3%). Excessive exposure to SB increased by 15.5 percentage points (62.7%; 95%CI: 61.5-64.0 vs. 78.2%; 95%CI: 77.1-79.4), with a similar magnitude between boys and girls. Excessive exposure to TV is on a downward trend, while that of SB has an upward trend. The temporal behavior of excessive exposure to TV and SB were similar in adolescents of different sociodemographic characteristics in both genders.