Bad news for couch potatoes: Spending hours parked in front of the TV may increase the risk of dying from a blood clot in the lung, a new study from Japan finds.
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Last year Britons watched an average of three hours and 40 minutes of TV each night, according to the latest analysis of viewing habits by Ofcom. Participants were at a 40 percent increased risk of developing a pulmonary embolism for every two additional hours of television they watched compared to those who watched less than 2.5 hours each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that every year, more than 600,000 people in the United States develop pulmonary embolisms, and of them more than 60,000 die.
In all, 59 deaths from pulmonary embolisms were recorded.
Pulmonary embolism is a highly risky condition closely linked to inactivity and slowed blood flow. It will often begin with a clot elsewhere in the body that can move towards the lungs, clogging up vessels and killing people.
More than a quarter of people who suffer an untreated pulmonary embolism die, and death can be sudden.
“Pulmonary embolism occurs at a lower rate in Japan than it does in Western countries, but it may be on the rise”, said lead researcher Professor Hiroyasu Iso, from Osaka University.
They said recent trends – such as “binge-watching” box sets via online streaming, and reliance on laptops and tablets – could put increased numbers at risk.
The study, reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, examined a range of factors which might have influenced their results, including levels of obesity, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure.
After the number of hours spent watching TV, obesity appeared to have the next strongest link to pulmonary embolism.
The research has led scientists to warn that such habits – watching back-to-back episodes of a TV series – might be risky.
“Nowadays, with online video streaming, the term “binge-watching” to describe viewing multiple episodes of television programs in one sitting has become popular”, said the study’s co-author Dr. Toru Shirakawa, a public health research fellow at Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, in a statement. “The popularity may reflect a rapidly growing habit”.
It was possible to watch a lot of TV while taking simple precautions to avoid blood clots similar to those recommended for air travellers on long-haul flights, said the researchers.
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Clearly, research into the health impacts of binge-watching needs to be done and the authors of the new study out this week concur that new studies are needed to determine health risks from the ways we use all the new screens in our lives.
