Television viewing time and weight gain in colorectal cancer survivors: a prospective population-based study.
Cancer causes & control : CCC 2009 ; 20: 1355-62.
Wijndaele K, Lynch BM, Owen N, Dunstan DW, Sharp SJ, Aitken JF
DOI : 10.1007/s10552-009-9356-5
PubMed ID : 19449106
PMCID : 0
Abstract
To investigate the prospective relationships between television viewing time and weight gain in the 3 years following colorectal cancer diagnosis for 1,867 colorectal cancer survivors (body mass index (BMI) > or = 18.5 kg/m(2)).
BMI, television viewing time, physical activity, and socio-demographic and clinical covariates were assessed at baseline (5 months), 24 months and 36 months post-diagnosis. Multiple linear regression was used to study independent associations between baseline television viewing time and BMI at 24 and 36 months post-diagnosis.
At both follow-up time points, there was a significant increase in mean BMI for participants reporting > or =5 h/day of television viewing compared to those watching <3 h/day at baseline (24 months: 0.72 kg/m(2) (0.31, 1.12), p < 0.001; 36 months: 0.61 kg/m(2) (0.14, 1.07), p = 0.01), independent of baseline BMI, gender, age, education, marital status, smoking, cancer site, cancer disease stage, treatment mode and co-morbidities. Additional adjustment for baseline physical activity did not change results.
These findings suggest that a greater emphasis on decreasing television viewing time could help reduce weight gain among colorectal cancer survivors. This, in turn, could contribute to a risk reduction for co-morbid conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.