Television viewing time and mortality: the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab).
BACKGROUND
Television viewing time, the predominant leisure-time sedentary behavior, is associated with biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk, but its relationship with mortality has not been studied. We examined the associations of prolonged television viewing time with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and non-CVD/noncancer mortality in Australian adults.


RESULTS
Television viewing time in relation to subsequent all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality (median follow-up, 6.6 years) was examined among 8800 adults > or =25 years of age in the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study (AusDiab). During 58 087 person-years of follow-up, there were 284 deaths (87 CVD deaths, 125 cancer deaths). After adjustment for age, sex, waist circumference, and exercise, the hazard ratios for each 1-hour increment in television viewing time per day were 1.11 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 1.20) for all-cause mortality, 1.18 (95% CI, 1.03 to 1.35) for CVD mortality, and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.23) for cancer mortality. Compared with a television viewing time of <2 h/d, the fully adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality were 1.13 (95% CI, 0.87 to 1.36) for > or =2 to <4 h/d and 1.46 (95% CI, 1.04 to 2.05) for > or =4 h/d. For CVD mortality, corresponding hazard ratios were 1.19 (95% CI, 0.72 to 1.99) and 1.80 (95% CI, 1.00 to 3.25). The associations with both cancer mortality and non-CVD/noncancer mortality were not significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Television viewing time was associated with increased risk of all-cause and CVD mortality. In addition to the promotion of exercise, chronic disease prevention strategies could focus on reducing sitting time, particularly prolonged television viewing.
Dunstan
D W
DW
Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, 250 Kooyong Rd, Caulfield, Victoria, Australia 3162. david.dunstan@bakeridi.edu.au
Barr
E L M
EL
Healy
G N
GN
Salmon
J
J
Shaw
J E
JE
Balkau
B
B
Magliano
D J
DJ
Cameron
A J
AJ
Zimmet
P Z
PZ
Owen
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000517:prevention & control; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000401:mortality*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality; D009765:Obesity / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D013690:Television / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*