This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

More time spent watching television linked with heightened risk for CVD, mortality

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Adults who watched more television had a significantly increased risk for all-cause and CVD mortality, new study results suggested.

Researchers for the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study examined television viewing time among 8,800 adults ≥25 years. Participants were divided into three groups based on their duration of television viewing. Groups included those who spent < two hours viewing per day (n=4,970, 59% women), those who spent between two and four hours viewing per day (n=3,158, 53% women) and those who spent > four hours per day viewing television (n=672, 53% women). Median follow up was 6.6 years.

The researchers reported a total of 284 deaths (87 CVD deaths, 72 non-CVD/noncancer-related deaths and 125 cancer deaths) during 58,087 person-years of follow-up. HRs for each increment of one hour of television viewing were 1.11 (95% CI, 1.02-1.20) for all-cause mortality, 1.18 (95% CI, 1.03-1.35) for CVD mortality and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.96-1.23) for cancer mortality. When compared with television viewing times < than two hours, adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality were 1.13 (95% CI, 0.87-1.36) for viewing periods that lasted between two and four hours, and 1.46 (95% CI, 1.04-2.05) for viewing periods > four hours. For CVD mortality, HRs for viewing between two and four hours were 1.19 (95% CI, 0.72-1.99) and 1.80 (95% CI, 1.00-3.25) for viewing longer than four hours per day. The researchers reported no significant associations between cancer-related mortality and television viewing time.

“These findings indicate that television viewing time is associated with an increased risk of all-cause and CVD mortality,” the researchers concluded. “Although continued emphasis on current public health guidelines on the importance of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise should remain, our findings suggest that reducing time spent watching television (and possibly other prolonged sedentary behaviors) may also be of benefit in preventing CVD and premature death.”

Dunstan D. Circulation. 2009;doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.894824.