posted on 2015-11-02, 11:56authored byMark Hamer, Emmanuel Stamatakis
Background: Sarcopenia is associated with loss of independence and ill-health in the elderly although the causes remain
poorly understood. We examined the association between two screen-based leisure time sedentary activities (daily TV
viewing time and internet use) and muscle strength.
Methods and Results: We studied 6228 men and women (aged 64.969.1 yrs) from wave 4 (2008-09) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, a prospective study of community dwelling older adults. Muscle strength was assessed by a hand grip test and the time required to complete five chair rises. TV viewing and internet usage were inversely associated with one another. Participants viewing TV $6hrs/d had lower grip strength (Men, B =21.20 kg, 95% CI, 22.26, 20.14;
Women, 20.75 kg, 95% CI, 21.48, 20.03) in comparison to ,2hrs/d TV, after adjustment for age, physical activity, smoking,
alcohol, chronic disease, disability, depressive symptoms, social status, and body mass index. In contrast, internet use was
associated with higher grip strength (Men, B = 2.43 kg, 95% CI, 1.74, 3.12; Women, 0.76 kg, 95% CI, 0.32, 1.20). These associations persisted after mutual adjustment for both types of sedentary behaviour.
Conclusions: In older adults, the association between sedentary activities and physical function is context specific (TV
viewing vs. computer use). Adverse effects of TV viewing might reflect the prolonged sedentary nature of this behavior.
Funding
This paper was funded by National Institute on Aging in the United States (grants 2RO1AG7644-01A1 and 2RO1AG017644) and a consortium of UK government departments
coordinated by the Office for National Statistics.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
PLoS One
Citation
HAMER, M. and STAMATAKIS, E., 2013. Screen-based sedentary behavior, physical activity, and muscle strength in the English longitudinal study of ageing. PLoS One, 8(6): e66222.
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/
Publication date
2013
Notes
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Public Library of Science under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/