Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research article

Association between education and television viewing among older working and retired people: a comparative study of Finland and Japan

Authors: Taishi Tsuji, Airi Amemiya, Kokoro Shirai, Sari Stenholm, Jaana Pentti, Tuula Oksanen, Jussi Vahtera, Katsunori Kondo

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Educational attainment is associated with physical activity among older people. However, little is known about its association with sedentary lifestyle in European as well as Asian nations. This study aims to examine the associations between educational attainment and daily television viewing as an indicator of a sedentary lifestyle among older working and retired people in Finland and Japan.

Methods

We used cross-sectional harmonized data from two cohorts, the Finnish Public Sector study (n = 10,744) and the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (n = 2493), evaluating individuals aged 65–75 years old. We defined high-duration television viewing as ≥4 h per day. Poisson regression was used to examine the association between educational attainment and high-duration television viewing, stratified by the current working status. Models were adjusted for age, sex, household size, smoking, alcohol, body mass index, chronic diseases, mental disorders, and physical activity.

Results

Of the participants, 27% in Finland and 30% in Japan reported high-duration television viewing. Compared with a low education (≤9 years), Finnish and Japanese retirees with a high education (≥13 years) had less high-duration television viewing [prevalence ratio, PR 0.68 (95% confidence interval 0.63–0.73) and 0.66 (0.55–0.79), respectively]. The corresponding PRs for Finnish and Japanese retirees with intermediate education were also lowered [0.89 (0.83–0.95) and 0.79 (0.68–0.91), respectively]. Among older people still at work, educational attainment was associated with high-duration television viewing among the Japanese but not among the Finnish.

Conclusion

A similar association between educational attainment and high-duration television viewing in Finland and Japan particularly after retirement suggests a robust and consistent impact of educational attainment on a sedentary lifestyle after retirements.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Literature
1.
Thorp AA, Owen N, Neuhaus M, Dunstan DW. Sedentary behaviors and subsequent health outcomes in adults a systematic review of longitudinal studies, 1996-2011. Am J Prev Med. 2011;41:207–15.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Boulos R, Vikre EK, Oppenheimer S, Chang H, Kanarek RB. ObesiTV: how television is influencing the obesity epidemic. Physiol Behav. 2012;107:146–53.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Hu FB, Li TY, Colditz GA, Willett WC, Manson JE. Television watching and other sedentary behaviors in relation to risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women. JAMA. 2003;289:1785–91.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Ford ES, Schulze MB, Kroger J, Pischon T, Bergmann MM, Boeing H. Television watching and incident diabetes: findings from the European prospective investigation into Cancer and nutrition-Potsdam study. J Diabetes. 2010;2:23–7.CrossRefPubMed
5.
6.
Stamatakis E, Hamer M, Dunstan DW. Screen-based entertainment time, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular events: population-based study with ongoing mortality and hospital events follow-up. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011;57:292–9.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Howard RA, Freedman DM, Park Y, Hollenbeck A, Schatzkin A, Leitzmann MF. Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and the risk of colon and rectal cancer in the NIH-AARP diet and health study. Cancer Causes Control. 2008;19:939–53.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
8.
Gierach GL, Chang SC, Brinton LA, Lacey JV Jr, Hollenbeck AR, Schatzkin A, et al. Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and endometrial cancer risk in the NIH-AARP diet and health study. Int J Cancer. 2009;124:2139–47.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
9.
Wijndaele K, Brage S, Besson H, Khaw KT, Sharp SJ, Luben R, et al. Television viewing time independently predicts all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: the EPIC Norfolk study. Int J Epidemiol. 2011;40:150–9.CrossRefPubMed
10.
Sprod J, Ferrar K, Olds T, Maher C. Changes in sedentary behaviours across the retirement transition: a systematic review. Age Ageing. 2015;44:918–25.CrossRefPubMed
11.
12.
Murakami K, Hashimoto H, Lee JS, Kawakubo K, Mori K, Akabayashi A. Distinct impact of education and income on habitual exercise: a cross-sectional analysis in a rural city in Japan. Soc Sci Med. 2011;73:1683–8.CrossRefPubMed
13.
Wister AV. The effects of socioeconomic status on exercise and smoking: age-related differences. J Aging Health. 1996;8:467–88.CrossRefPubMed
14.
Grundy E, Holt G. The socioeconomic status of older adults: how should we measure it in studies of health inequalities? J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001;55:895–904.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
15.
Lahelma E, Martikainen P, Laaksonen M, Aittomaki A. Pathways between socioeconomic determinants of health. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2004;58:327–32.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
16.
Biswas A, Oh PI, Faulkner GE, Bajaj RR, Silver MA, Mitchell MS, et al. Sedentary time and its association with risk for disease incidence, mortality, and hospitalization in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2015;162:123–32.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Gebremariam MK, Altenburg TM, Lakerveld J, Andersen LF, Stronks K, Chinapaw MJ, et al. Associations between socioeconomic position and correlates of sedentary behaviour among youth: a systematic review. Obes Rev. 2015;16:988–1000.CrossRefPubMed
18.
O'Donoghue G, Perchoux C, Mensah K, Lakerveld J, van der Ploeg H, Bernaards C, et al. A systematic review of correlates of sedentary behaviour in adults aged 18-65 years: a socio-ecological approach. BMC Public Health. 2016;16:163.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
Stamatakis E, Grunseit AC, Coombs N, Ding D, Chau JY, Phongsavan P, et al. Associations between socio-economic position and sedentary behaviour in a large population sample of Australian middle and older-aged adults: the social, economic, and environmental factor (SEEF) study. Prev Med. 2014;63:72–80.CrossRefPubMed
20.
Stamatakis E, Coombs N, Rowlands A, Shelton N, Hillsdon M. Objectively-assessed and self-reported sedentary time in relation to multiple socioeconomic status indicators among adults in England: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. 2014;4:e006034.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
21.
Kikuchi H, Inoue S, Sugiyama T, Owen N, Oka K, Shimomitsu T. Correlates of prolonged television viewing time in older Japanese men and women. BMC Public Health. 2013;13:213.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
22.
Chastin SF, Buck C, Freiberger E, Murphy M, Brug J, Cardon G, et al. Systematic literature review of determinants of sedentary behaviour in older adults: a DEDIPAC study. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2015;12:127.
23.
24.
Dunstan DW, Barr EL, Healy GN, Salmon J, Shaw JE, Balkau B, et al. Television viewing time and mortality: the Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle study (AusDiab). Circulation. 2010;121:384–91.CrossRefPubMed
25.
Goldberg DP, Gater R, Sartorius N, Ustun TB, Piccinelli M, Gureje O, et al. The validity of two versions of the GHQ in the WHO study of mental illness in general health care. Psychol Med. 1997;27:191–7.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Alden D, Austin C, Sturgeon R. A correlation between the geriatric depression scale long and short forms. J Gerontol. 1989;44:P124–5.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Wada T, Ishine M, Kita T, Fujisawa M, Matsubayashi K. Depression screening of elderly community-dwelling Japanese. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003;51:1328–9.PubMed
28.
Glymour MM, Avendano M, Kawachi I. Socioeconomic status and health. In: Berkman LF, Kawachi I, Glymour MM, editors. Social Epidemiology Second Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2014. p. 17–62.
29.
European Communities. How Europeans spend their time - everyday life of women and men: data 1998–2002. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities; 2004.
30.
Sugiyama T, Salmon J, Dunstan DW, Bauman AE, Owen N. Neighborhood walkability and TV viewing time among Australian adults. Am J Prev Med. 2007;33:444–9.CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Association between education and television viewing among older working and retired people: a comparative study of Finland and Japan
Authors
Taishi Tsuji
Airi Amemiya
Kokoro Shirai
Sari Stenholm
Jaana Pentti
Tuula Oksanen
Jussi Vahtera
Katsunori Kondo
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5860-4

Other articles of this Issue 1/2018

BMC Public Health 1/2018 Go to the issue

Study protocol

The Young Women’s Health CoOp in Cape Town, South Africa: Study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial for adolescent women at risk for HIV

Research article

A haven of green space: learning from a pilot pre-post evaluation of a school-based social and therapeutic horticulture intervention with children

Research article

Evaluation of a population-level strategy to promote tobacco treatment use among insured smokers: a pragmatic, randomized trial

Study protocol

A randomized controlled trial to evaluate utilization of physical activity recommendations among patients of cardiovascular healthcare centres in Eastern Slovakia: study design and rationale of the AWATAR study

Debate

The role of environmental health in the Basotho male initiation schools: neglected or restricted?

Research article

The use of advanced medical technologies at home: a systematic review of the literature