Association between television viewing time and risk of incident stroke in a general population: Results from the REGARDS study

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between TV/video viewing, as a measure of sedentary behavior, and risk of incident stroke in a large prospective cohort of men and women. Methods. This analysis involved 22,257 participants from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study who reported at baseline the amount of time spent watching TV/video daily. Suspected stroke events were identified at six-monthly telephone calls and were physician-adjudicated. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine risk of stroke at follow-up. Results. During 7.1 years of follow-up, 727 incident strokes occurred. After adjusting for demographic factors, watching TV/video >= 4 h/day (30% of the sample) was associated with a hazard ratio of 1.37 increased risk of all stroke (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.10-1.71) and incident ischemic stroke (hazard ratio 1.35, CI 1.06-1.72). This association was attenuated by socioeconomic factors such as employment status, education and income. Conclusions. These results suggest that while TV/video viewing is associated with increased stroke risk, the effect of TV/video viewing on stroke risk may be explained through other risk factors. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.