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Watching TV associated with eight leading causes of death

Prolonged TV viewing is linked to a greater risk for eight leading causes of death in the United States, including cancer and heart disease, according to data published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"TV viewing is the most prevalent leisure-time behavior in the U.S. and an estimated 289 million Americans (92%) have a TV at home," Sarah K. Keadle, PhD, MPH, a fellow at the nutritional epidemiology branch in the division of cancer epidemiology and genetics at the National Cancer Institute, and colleagues wrote. "On a given day, 80% of American adults watch TV for an average of 3.5 hours per day, which is more than half (55%) of their available leisure time."

The research was part of the NIH-AARP Health Study, in which 566,401 AARP members aged 50 to 71 years and living in California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Atlanta or Detroit completed a questionnaire about medical history and diet. Respondents who did not report prostate, colon or breast cancer were mailed a second questionnaire regarding TV viewing. Keadle and colleagues excluded participants with a history or cancer, heart disease, stroke or emphysema and those with missing or extreme BMI values. The final cohort included 221,426 participants.

The researchers linked questionnaire responses to the Social Security Administration Death Master File and verified information by searching the National Death Index Plus. Participants were followed until their death or Dec. 31, 2011.

Keadle and colleagues reported that there were 36,590 deaths during a mean 14.1 years of follow-up. With each 2 hour per day increase in TV viewing, data showed a 14% increase in mortality (P < .001).

Results demonstrated that each 2 hour per day increase in TV viewing was associated with an increased risk of mortality for eight leading causes of death, including cancer (HR = 1.07, 95% CI, 1.03-1.11), heart disease (HR = 1.23, 95% CI, 1.17-1.29), COPD (HR = 1.28, 95% CI, 1.14-1.43), diabetes (HR = 1.56, 95% CI, 1.33-1.83), influenza or pneumonia (HR = 1.24, 95% CI, 1.02-1.5), Parkinson's disease (HR = 1.35, 95% CI, 1.11-1.65), liver disease (HR = 1.33, 95% CI, 1.05-1.67) and suicide (HR = 1.43, 95% CI, 1.1-1.85).

"Older adults watch the most TV of any demographic group in the U.S.,” Keadle and colleagues wrote. “In this large cohort of older adults, prolonged TV viewing was associated with higher risk for eight of 14 leading causes of death in the U.S. Given the increasing age of the population, the high prevalence of TV viewing in leisure time, and the broad range of mortality outcomes for which risk appears to be increased, prolonged TV viewing may be a more important target for public health intervention than previously recognized." – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.