Television viewing time and mortality from stroke and coronary artery disease among Japanese men and women – The Japan collaborative cohort study

Background: No study has examined the association between television (TV) viewing time and mortality from stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD) in Japanese. Methods and Results: A total of 35,959 men and 49,940 women aged 40–79 years without a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer were followed from 1988–1990 until 2009. During 19.2 median years of follow-up, there were 2,553 deaths from stroke, 1,206 from CAD and 5,835 from total CVD. Compared with viewing TV for <2 h/ day, mortality from stroke, CAD and total CVD were higher for ≥6 h/day of TV viewing. The multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) for ≥6 h/day of TV viewing were 1.15 (95% confidence interval: 0.96–1.37) for stroke, 1.33 (1.03–1.72) for CAD and 1.19 (1.06–1.34) for total CVD. The corresponding HRs for each 1-h/day increment in TV viewing time were 1.01 (0.99–1.04), 1.04 (1.01–1.08) and 1.02 (1.01–1.04), respectively. The excess risk of mortality from CAD and total CVD was somewhat attenuated after further adjustment for potential mediators such as history of hypertension and diabetes: the multivariable HRs for ≥6 h/day of TV viewing were 1.24 (0.96–1.61) and 1.14 (1.02–1.28). The corresponding HRs for each 1-h/day increment in TV viewing time were 1.03 (1.00–1.07) and 1.01 (1.00–1.03). Conclusions: Prolonged TV viewing was associated with a small but significant increase in mortality from CAD and total CVD in Japanese.