Television viewing duration and blood pressure among 18–74-year-old adults. The French nutrition and health survey (ENNS, 2006–2007)

ObjectivesTo describe Blood Pressure (BP) according to the time spent viewing television and examine whether the associations between television viewing and systolic and diastolic BP differed depending on sex, age and BMI.DesignThe French health and nutrition survey (ENNS) was conducted in 2006–2007 on a multistage stratified random sample of 18–74-year-old adults.MethodsSystolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were assessed using three measurements. Among subjects without BP-lowering drugs and lifestyle measures, adjusted means of SBP and DBP were estimated for each television viewing category (<3 h and ≥3 h).ResultsAmong 2050 ENNS participants, 81.2% declared neither drug medication nor lifestyle change to lower BP. In women without BP-lowering measure, viewing television 3 h/day or more increased significantly SBP and DBP adjusted means (+2 mmHg) compared to women who spent less than 3 h/day in front of the television. These associations were stronger in obese or 35–54-year-old women. In men, no relationship between DBP and television-viewing has been observed. Though, SBP was positively associated with television-viewing in non-overweight, 18–29 or 55–74 year-old men.ConclusionsThese results show that the association between television viewing duration and BP must be evaluated differently between gender, age group and BMI category.