title: Association between television viewing time and risk of incident stroke in a general population: Results from the REGARDS study.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between TV/video viewing, as a measure of sedentary behavior, and risk of incident stroke in a large prospective cohort of men and women.
  
  
  
  This analysis involved 22,257 participants from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study who reported at baseline the amount of time spent watching TV/video daily. Suspected stroke events were identified at six-monthly telephone calls and were physician-adjudicated. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine risk of stroke at follow-up.
  
  
  
  During 7.1years of follow-up, 727 incident strokes occurred. After adjusting for demographic factors, watching TV/video ≥4h/day (30% of the sample) was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.37 increased risk of all stroke (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10-1.71) and incident ischemic stroke (hazard ratio 1.35, CI 1.06-1.72). This association was attenuated by socioeconomic factors such as employment status, education and income.
  
  
  
  These results suggest that while TV/video viewing is associated with increased stroke risk, the effect of TV/video viewing on stroke risk may be explained through other risk factors.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. Electronic address: michelle.mcdonnell@unisa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Michelle N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: McDonnell
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hillier
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Judd
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Steven P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hooker
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Virginia J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Howard
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D013690:Television; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Prevention and control; Risk factors; Sedentary Lifestyle; Stroke