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Obese children who watch a lot of television are more likely to have high blood pressure than heavy children who don't spend as much time in front of the tube, a new study shows.
Increased psychological stress and junk food eaten while watching TV could be factors in the relationship, said principal investigator Dr Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego.
Obese children who watched two to four hours of TV each day were two and a half times more likely than their peers who watched less TV to have high blood pressure, he and his colleagues found, while kids who watched more than four hours daily had more than triple the risk of having high blood pressure.
TV watching time clearly influences obesity, and high blood pressure is a known consequence, Dr Schwimmer and his team point out in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
To investigate this relationship, they evaluated 546 children between 4 and 17 years old who were seeking treatment for obesity. Forty-three per cent had high blood pressure.
Most of the study participants with high blood pressure watched two hours or more of television. Time spent watching TV was also associated with the severity of obesity, the researchers found.
Kids who watch more TV may also be eating more fatty, salty foods, which could directly contribute to high blood pressure, Dr Schwimmer and his colleagues note.
Studies have shown children who watch more TV experience more perceived psychological stress, Dr Schwimmer noted, and evidence is mounting stress can alter how the brain communicates with other organs, affecting blood pressure and body fat accumulation and distribution.
- Reuters
