Meta-analysis of the Relation of Television-Viewing Time and Cardiovascular Disease

To determine whether television (TV) viewing is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, we performed a meta-analysis of currently available prospective cohort studies. We systematically searched PubMed and Web of Science through April 2019. Eligible for inclusion in the present meta-analysis was a prospective cohort study investigating the association of TV viewing time with CVD risk (CVD prevalence, CVD incidence, cardiovascular events, and cardiovascular mortality). From each study, adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of CVD risk were extracted. We separately combined study-specific estimates for dichotomous, tertile, quartile, and continuous values of TV viewing time in the random-effects model. The pooled analysis for dichotomous time demonstrated that CVD risk was significantly higher in the longer than shorter viewing (HR 1.28; p = 0.02). In the meta-analysis for tertile time, CVD risk was significantly higher in the longest than shortest tertile (T1) (HR 1.26; p = 0.0006), but there was no significant difference between the middle tertile and T1 (p = 0.51). The meta-analysis for quartile time indicated that CVD risk was significantly higher in the longest than shortest quartile (Q1) (HR 1.32; p = 0.0007), but there were no significant differences between the second longest quartile and Q1 (p = 0.12) and between the second shortest quartile and Q1 (p = 0.60). In the meta-analysis for continuous time, longer viewing was significantly associated with higher CVD risk (HR per 1-h/day increment; 1.06; p = 0.005). In conclusion, longer TV viewing time is significantly associated with higher CVD risk.