'Netflix and kill?' Binge watching box-sets linked to blood clots

Conclusion This study used data from a large Japanese cohort study to assess the link between the number of hours spent watching the television and the risk of death from pulmonary embolism. The study found that a greater number of hours watching the television increased the risk of death from pulmonary embolism. The main strength of this study is the very large sample size and long follow-up periods. However, there are a number of limitations: this study design is not able to prove cause and effect, so while there appears to be a link, we cannot be sure the cause of mortality is from television watching even though the researchers attempted to account for relevant health and lifestyle factors such as BMI, smoking and physical activity, this may not be entirely accurate and there is still the possibility of residual confounding from these and other factors despite the large cohort size, death from pulmonary embolism is very rare. These deaths have then been further subdivided by TV category, and statistical comparisons that involve small numbers are less reliable the population was a group of older adults from Japan, the findings may not relate to other age groups or geographical populations mortality from pulmonary embolism was confirmed from death certificates. This is likely to be reliable, but we don't know how many people may have experienced DVT or pulmonary embolism and not died from them  information on the amount of time spent watchin...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news