People who watch television for more than four hours a day are more likely to develop venous thromboembolism (VTE), the most common form of which is deep vein thrombosis (DVT), according to new research.
A lack of robust blood circulation, commonly induced by sitting in the same position for a lengthy period of time, causes the blockage to form. Many people will experience severe pain and swelling near the clot's site as it forms.
DVT affects over one million Americans each year, with up to 100,000 people dying as a result. The illness affects the deepest veins in your body, most commonly in the legs or pelvis, but it has also been seen in the arms.
Age, physical fitness, and pre-existing health issues, particularly heart disease and high blood pressure, are all important risk factors for VTE, with sedentary lifestyle being the most prevalent. Regardless of health, the risk of VTE increases simply by sitting for an extended period of time without moving. It's one of the reasons why bedridden individuals need to be exercised if they can't move.
If left untreated, the clot could cause long-term harm to the vascular system. Some may become dislodged and travel to the lungs, cutting off blood supply to the organ and producing a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism.
Researchers looked at data from three previous observational studies, totaling over 130,000 people aged 40 and up who had not been diagnosed with VTE before taking part.
About 1,000 patients in the pool were eventually diagnosed with VTE at some time after they enrolled in the trial, and those who could be classified as prolonged TV-watchers, meaning they watched four hours or more per day on average, were 35% more likely to develop VTE.
"The association was independent of age, sex, body mass index and physical activity, which are strongly related to the risk of VTE," lead author Setor Kunutsor, of the University of Bristol, said in a statement to Gizmodo. "This means that the relationship we observed between TV viewing and VTE risk cannot be explained by age, sex, body mass index, and physical activity. The relationship does not depend on these factors."
They did, however, point out that their data indicate simply a link between TV viewing and VTE, and not proof that TV viewing caused VTE.
Their findings were published on Wednesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
