CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 95Physical Activity and HealthObesity, Physical Activity, DietChild Development and Digital Technology

The effect of interventions targeting screen time reduction: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Open access
Wu, Lei, Sun, Samio, He, Yao, Jiang, Bin·2016·Medicine
DOI 10.1097/md.0000000000004029PMC PMC5058814
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Previous studies have evaluated the effectiveness of interventions aimed at screen time reduction, but the results have been inconsistent. We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to summarize the accumulating evidence of the impact of interventions targeting screen time reduction on body mass index (BMI) reduction and screen time reduction. The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases were searched for RCTs on the effect of interventions targeting screen time reduction. The primary and secondary outcomes were the mean difference between the treatment and control groups in the changes in BMI and changes in screen viewing time. A random effects model was used to calculate the pooled mean differences. Fourteen trials including 2238 participants were assessed. The pooled analysis suggested that interventions targeting screen time reduction had a significant effect on BMI reduction (-0.15 kg/m, P < 0.001, I = 0) and on screen time reduction (-4.63 h/w, P = 0.003, I = 94.6%). Subgroup analysis showed that a significant effect of screen time reduction was observed in studies in which the duration of intervention was <7 months and that the types of interventions in those studies were health promotion curricula or counseling. Interventions for screen time reduction might be effective in reducing screen time and preventing excess weight. Further rigorous investigations with larger samples and longer follow-up periods are still needed to evaluate the efficacy of screen time reduction both in children and in adults.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1097/md.0000000000004029

Cites

7 of 7 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 37

  1. [2]Schmid D Leitzmann MF Television viewing and time spent sedentary in relation to cancer risk: a meta-analysis. J Natl Cancer Inst 2014; 106: 1– 19. 24935969
  2. [6]Colley RC Garriguet D Janssen I Physical activity of Canadian adults: accelerometer results from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Rep 2011; 22: 7– 14. 21510585
  3. [7]Krebs NF Jacobson MS American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition. Prevention of pediatric overweight and obesity. Pediatrics 2003; 112: 424– 430. 12897303
  4. [8]Escobar-Chaves SL Anderson CA Media and risky behaviors. Future Child 2008; 18: 147– 180. 21338009
  5. [9]Jolliffe D Extent of overweight among US children and adolescents from 1971 to 2000. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28: 4– 9. 14652618
  6. [10]Dietz WH Overweight in childhood and adolescence. N Engl J Med 2004; 350: 855– 857. 14985480
  7. [11]Pinhas-Hamiel O Dolan LM Daniels SR Increased incidence of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus among adolescents. J Pediatr 1996; 128 (5 pt 1): 608– 615. 8627431
  8. [12]Marsh S Foley LS Wilks DC Family-based interventions for reducing sedentary time in youth: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Obes Rev 2014; 15: 117– 133. 24102891
  9. [13]Sharma M School-based interventions for childhood and adolescent obesity. Obes Rev 2006; 7: 261– 269. 16866974
  10. [14]DeMattia L Lemont L Meurer L Do interventions to limit sedentary behaviours change behaviour and reduce childhood obesity? A critical review of the literature. Obes Rev 2007; 8: 69– 81. 17212797
  11. [15]Leung MM Agaronov A Grytsenko K Intervening to reduce sedentary behaviors and childhood obesity among school-age youth: a systematic review of randomized trials. J Obes 2012; 2012: 685430. 22132321 PMC3202121
  12. [18]Biddle SJ O’Connell S Braithwaite RE Sedentary behavior interventions in young people: a meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med 2011; 45: 937– 942. 21807671
  13. [19]Steeves JA Thompson DL Bassett DR A review of different behavior modification strategies designed to reduce sedentary screen behaviors in children. J Obes 2012; 2012: 379215. 21811678 PMC3143427
  14. [20]Schmidt ME Haines J O’Brien A Systematic review of effective strategies for reducing screen time among young children. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2012; 4: 1338– 1354. 22222926
  15. [21]Wahi G Parkin PC Beyene J Effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing screen time in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2011; 165: 979– 986. 21727260
  16. [22]Maniccia DM Davison KK Marshall SJ A meta-analysis of interventions that target children's screen time for reduction. Pediatrics 2011; 128: e193– e210. 21708797
  17. [23]Birken CS Maguire J Mekky M Office-based randomized controlled trial to reduce screen time in preschool children. Pediatrics 2012; 130: 1110– 1115. 23129085
  18. [24]Maddison R Marsh S Foley L Screen-Time Weight-loss Intervention Targeting Children at Home (SWITCH): a randomized controlled trial. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2014; 11: 111. 25204320 PMC4174282
  19. [25]Raynor HA Steeves EA Bassett DR Jr Reducing TV watching during adult obesity treatment: two pilot randomized controlled trials. Behav Ther 2013; 44: 674– 685. 24094792
  20. [26]Taveras EM Gortmaker SL Hohman KH Randomized controlled trial to improve primary care to prevent and manage childhood obesity the high five for kids study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2011; 165: 714– 722. 21464376 PMC3881272
  21. [27]Yilmaz G Demirli Caylan N Karacan CD An intervention to preschool children for reducing screen time: a randomized controlled trial. Child Care Health Dev 2015; 41: 443– 449. 24571538
  22. [28]Harris KC Kuramoto LK Schulzer M Effect of school-based physical activity interventions on body mass index in children: a meta-analysis. CMAJ 2009; 180: 719– 726. 19332753 PMC2659836
  23. [30]Dennison BA Russo TJ Burdick PA An intervention to reduce television viewing by preschool children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2004; 158: 170– 176. 14757609
  24. [31]Epstein LH Roemmich JN Robinson JL A randomized trial of the effects of reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008; 162: 239– 245. 18316661 PMC2291289
  25. [32]Escobar-Chaves SL Markham CM Addy RC The Fun Families Study: intervention to reduce children's TV viewing. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2010; 18 (suppl. 1): S99– S101. 20107469
  26. [33]Ford BS McDonald TE Owens AS Primary care interventions to reduce television viewing in African-American children. Am J Prev Med 2002; 22: 106– 109. 11818179
  27. [34]Ni Mhurchu C Roberts V Maddison R Effect of electronic time monitors on children's television watching: pilot trial of a home-based intervention. Prev Med 2009; 49: 413– 417. 19744507
  28. [35]Otten JJ Jones KE Littenberg B Effects of television viewing reduction on energy intake and expenditure in overweight and obese adults: a randomized controlled trial. Arch Intern Med 2009; 169: 2109– 2115. 20008695
  29. [36]Robinson TN Reducing children's television viewing to prevent obesity: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 1999; 282: 1561– 1567. 10546696
  30. [37]Robinson TN Matheson DM Kraemer HC A randomized controlled trial of culturally tailored dance and reducing screen time to prevent weight gain in low-income African American girls: Stanford GEMS. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2010; 164: 995– 1004. 21041592 PMC3763243
  31. [38]Todd MK Reis-Bergan MJ Sidman CL Effect of a family-based intervention on electronic media use and body composition among boys aged 8–11 years: a pilot study. J Child Health Care 2008; 12: 344– 358. 19052191
  32. [39]Vereecken CA Todd J Roberts C Television viewing behaviour and associations with food habits in different countries. Public Health Nutr 2006; 9: 244– 250. 16571179
  33. [40]Francis LA Birch LL Does eating during television viewing affect preschool children's intake? J Am Diet Assoc 2006; 106: 598– 600. 16567158 PMC2596580
  34. [42]Zimmerman FJ Bell JF Associations of television content type and obesity in children. Am J Public Health 2010; 100: 334– 340. 20019313 PMC2804635
  35. [43]Puder JJ Marques-Vidal P Schindler C Effect of multidimensional lifestyle intervention on fitness and adiposity in predominantly migrant preschool children (Ballabeina): cluster randomized controlled trial. BMJ 2011; 343: d6195. 21998346 PMC3192456
  36. [44]Gentile DA Welk G Eisenmann JC Evaluation of a multiple ecological level child obesity prevention program: switch what you Do, View, and Chew. BMC Med 2009; 7: 49. 19765270 PMC2758893
  37. [45]Mauriello LM Ciavatta MM Paiva AL Results of a multi-media multiple behavior obesity prevention program for adolescents. Prev Med 2010; 51: 451– 456. 20800079 PMC2997127

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wu, L., Sun, S., He, Y., & Jiang, B.
Affiliations
  • Chinese PLA General Hospital (CN)
  • Houston Methodist (US)
Corresponding author
He, Yao
ORCID
Venue
Medicine
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2016-07
Volume
95
Issue
27
Pages
e4029
ISSN
0025-7974 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1097/md.0000000000004029
PMC
PMC5058814
OpenAlex
W2467819909
Cited by
95
References
7
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 3
FWCI
0.78
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (81373080, D121100004912003, 81072355)
  • Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (D121100004912003, 81373080, 81072355)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
Keywords
screen time reduction, body mass index, weight loss, obesity prevention, counseling intervention, intervention duration, children, adults
MeSH terms
Adult, Child, Computers, Health Promotion, Humans, Obesity, Television, Time Factors, Body Mass Index, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Video Games, Sedentary Behavior

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review