ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE SCREEN TIME AND THE CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS WITH THE PRESENCE OF METABOLIC RISK IN SCHOOLCHILDREN

OBJECTIVE: To verify the association between screen time and cardiorespiratory fitness with the presence of metabolic risk in schoolchildren in an isolated and clustered manner. METHODS: Cross-sectional study with 1.200 schoolchildren from Santa Cruz do Sul-RS. Screen time and cardiorespiratory fitness were evaluated. The continuous metabolic risk score was calculated by summing the Z score of the waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C). RESULTS: Children (34.3%) and adolescents (48.2%) had high screen time, while 44.3% of the children and 53.3% of the adolescents were unfit in relation to cardiorespiratory fitness. Regarding the relation of screen time/cardiorespiratory fitness, 14.7% of the children and 26.9% of the adolescents presented high screen time and low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness. The presence of metabolic risk was shown in children (17.1%) and adolescents (14.7%). The presence of metabolic risk was directly associated with low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness in children and adolescents. When analyzed in clusters, the metabolic risk in children was 11% more prevalent in subjects with low screen time/unfit and 12% in subjects with high screen time/unfit, whereas in adolescents, the prevalence of metabolic risk was also higher in those with low screen time/unfit (8%) and high screen time/unfit (7%). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of metabolic risk in children and adolescents was associated with low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, independent of screen time, in an isolated or clustered manner.