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Read: Intense TV watching increases obesity
The researchers analysed data from more than 150 000 adults in nearly 110 000 households in 17 countries where people had high, medium and low incomes.
High-income nations included Canada, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates; upper-middle-income countries included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa and Turkey; lower-middle-income countries included China, Colombia, and Iran; and low-income countries included Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
78% of households had at least one TV set, 34% had a computer and 32% had a car, according to the study, which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Larger waist sizes
In low-income nations, people in homes with all three items did 31% less physical activity and 21% more sitting compared with those who owned none of the devices. They also had larger waist sizes.
In high-income countries, there was no link between owning these items and obesity and diabetes rates. The association, however, was strong in low-income nations, where the obesity rate was 14.5% in homes with all three devices and 3.4% in homes with none. The diabetes rate was 11.7% in homes with all three items and 4.7% in homes with none.
"Although we found a significant positive association between owning household devices and obesity or diabetes in low-income countries, we were unable to detect a relationship in the high-income [countries]," study author Dr Scott Lear, of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, said in a journal news release.
It's likely that the negative health impacts of these three consumer products have already occurred in richer countries, and this is reflected in their already high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes, Lear said.
Although the study linked owning televisions, computers and cars to higher obesity and diabetes rates, it did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
Read more:
Technology adding to obesity worldwide
