TV Watching Linked to Childhood Hypertension
May 1st, 2007 Posted by: Dr. Cox
Donald Shifrin, M.D.
Chair, American Academy of Pediatrics
SAN DIEGO, Nov. 1 — Whiling away the hours in front of the TV may not only increase the risk of obesity in children, but for obese kids,
it may also raise their blood pressure, researchers found.
Obese children and adolescents’ odds of hypertension rose by 26% with every
additional hour of television per day
(P>0.001), according to a prospective study reported in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Action Points
Explain to interested patients that sedentary behaviors, such as excessive TV viewing, may contribute to hypertension as well as weight gain and put children at risk for future Men’s health problems.
Inform patients that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than two hours per day of “screen time” for children, whether that’s in front of the TV, a computer, or playing video games.
The odds of hypertension were 2.5 to 3.3 times higher for obese children who exceeded the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation for no more than two hours of “screen time” daily than for those who watched less, said Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues.
The findings reinforce those guidelines and suggest that physicians need to be vigilant about questioning parents on how much time their children spend with TV as well as at the computer and with handheld video games, said Donald Shifrin, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle and a spokesperson for the AAP, in an interview.
Although the study dealt only with TV watching, the results extend the evidence that being sedentary is bad for the body beyond just its effects on weight, commented Stuart J.H. Biddle, Ph.D., C.Psychol., of Loughborough University in Loughborough, England, in an accompanying editorial.
Dr. Schwimmer’s group prospectively studied 546 patients ages four to 17 who were seen at pediatric weight management clinics in California and Ohio from 2003 through 2005. Questionnaires were filled out by children and their parents or by parents only if the child was under eight.
Participants all had a body mass index in the 95th percentile or greater for age and gender (mean 98.7th percentile, BMI 35.5 kg/m2). None had a pre-existing hypertension diagnosis, but 43% were found in the study to have hypertension.
Three-quarters of the participants (78%) estimated daily TV viewing at more than two hours a day; among hypertensive children that percentage was even higher (89%). The overall average was 3.2 hours, similar to children in the general population.
TV time was linked to BMI z-score with kids at or below the 99th percentile for BMI watching 2.6 hours of TV per day on average, whereas those with a higher BMI watched 3.3 hours daily (P
Primary source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Source reference:
Pardee PE, et al “Television Viewing and Hypertension in Obese Children” Am J Prev Med 2007; DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2007.07.036.
Additional source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Source reference:
Biddle SJH, “Sedentary Behavior” Am J Prev Med 2007; DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2007.08.002.
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