US Pharm. 2008;33(1):73. 

A study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine suggests that children who spend too much time watching TV are more likely to be obese, which could lead to a higher incidence of hypertension.

According to study author Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, there is a correlation between the severity of obesity and the amount of time spent watching TV each day. Dr. Schwimmer and associates made this determination based on obesity evaluations of children ages 4 to 17 in California and Ohio and the amount of time they spent watching TV. The investigators found that the severity of obesity and the amount of TV watched were significant predictors of which children would develop hypertension.

Children who spent two to four hours a day watching TV were 2.5 times more likely to have hypertension than those who watched two or fewer hours a day. Children who watched more than four hours of TV daily were 3.3 times more likely to have hypertension than those who watched fewer than two hours a day.

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