Association between child and adolescent television viewing and adult health: a longitudinal birth cohort study

Watching television in childhood and adolescence has been linked to adverse health indicators including obesity, poor fitness, smoking, and raised cholesterol. However, there have been no longitudinal studies of childhood viewing and adult health. We explored these associations in a birth cohort followed up to age 26 years. We assessed approximately 1000 unselected individuals born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1972–73 at regular intervals up to age 26 years. We used regression analysis to investigate the associations between earlier television viewing and body-mass index, cardiorespiratory fitness (maximum aerobic power assessed by a submaximal cycling test), serum cholesterol, smoking status, and blood pressure at age 26 years. Average weeknight viewing between ages 5 and 15 years was associated with higher body-mass indices (p=0·0013), lower cardiorespiratory fitness (p=0·0003), increased cigarette smoking (p