Relationship between TV Watching during Childhood and Adolescence, and Artery Function in Adulthood

PURPOSE: Artery dysfunction is an early, integral stage in atherogenesis that predicts future cardiovascular events. Sedentary behavior, such as TV watching, is highly prevalent and associated with increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated whether patterns of TV watching throughout childhood and adolescence were associated with artery function in adulthood. METHODS: TV watching data were collected when participants of the Raine Study were aged 5, 8, 10, 14, 17, and 20 yr. Previous latent class analysis indicated three trajectory groups of TV watching: low TV (<14 h·wk -1 ), high TV (>14 h·wk -1 ), and increasing TV (change from low TV to high TV). At age 28 yr, participants were invited to undergo tests of brachial and femoral artery function by flow-mediated dilation (FMD). General linear models examined differences in artery function between TV trajectory groups for men and women. RESULTS: Five hundred sixty participants (n = 261 women, n = 299 men) were included in the study. In women, the low TV group had significantly greater femoral artery FMD (10.8 ± 1.6%) than both High TV (9.0 ± 1.3%, P = 0.005) and Increasing TV groups (8.5 ± 1.3%, P < 0.001); these results were maintained following mediation analysis, including contemporaneous risk factors. There were no significant differences in femoral artery FMD between TV trajectory groups in men ( P = 0.955). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that TV watching behaviors during childhood and adolescence may have legacy impacts on artery function at age 28 yr, particularly in women. This may increase the risk of atherosclerotic vascular pathologies in later life.