Posted on 03/03/2009 7:15:19 AM PST by Fractal Trader
Children who watch TV for more than two hours a day or are otherwise inactive have a doubled risk for asthma, according to a U.K. study.
Researchers looked at more than 3,000 children whose respiratory health was monitored from birth to 11.5 years of age.
Each year, parents were asked about any symptoms of wheezing in their children and whether their children had been diagnosed with asthma by the time they were 7.5 years old, but not before they were 3.5 years old.
The parents were also asked to report on their children's TV viewing habits after the age of 3.5 years. The amount of time spent in front of the TV was used a measure of sedentary behavior.
By the time the children were 11.5 years old, the overall asthma rate among those who had no asthma symptoms when they were 3.5 years old was 6 percent. However, those who watched TV for more than two hours a day were almost twice as likely to have asthma as those who watched less TV.
The results weren't confined to one gender and weren't related to the children's current weight.
The study was published online and was expected to be in an upcoming print issue of the journal Thorax.
The link between physical activity, sedentary behavior and asthma is complex, noted Dr. Andrea Sherriff, of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues. They noted that previous research suggests breathing patterns in children may be associated with sedentary behavior, triggering developmental changes in the lungs and subsequent wheezing.
Yet another study that jumps from correlation to cause without proof. Maybe kids start feeling lackadasical long before full blown asthma shows up, and doing passive stuff is simply a leading symptom of asthma.
Maybe the kids with asthma had to stay indoors rather than run around outside in the pollen and pollution?
Like reading, or sitting in a desk at school?
ping
Or pets. One of my catz loves “Walker, Texas Ranger,” and climbs up to pat the TV screen when it’s on.
Exactly! Romping and playing in the grass is great fun when you are allergic to grass and pollen and you are having trouble breathing. This is a huge “crock”.
It’s from the chemicals leaching out of the couch — “MADE IN CHINA”
Cheap furniture made in third and fourth world countries are chocked full of aromatic chemicals that just might not be good for your pulmonary organs.
Just wanted to add a new fear factor.
The methodology is suspect, IMHO. Thanks, bfl
I thought you just might be interested.
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