Study: Children who watch more TV at greater risk of asthma

Young children who spend more than two hours a day watching TV double their risk of developing asthma, research shows.

A study published in the journal Thorax today examined over 3,000 children’s respiratory health from birth until they were 11-and-a-half years old.

During that time parents were asked to monitor their son or daughter’s wheezing, subsequent asthma diagnosis and TV viewing habits.

Researchers found the prevalence of asthma among children at the age of 11-and-a-half years old, who had no asthmatic symptoms when they were three and-a-half years old, was six per cent.

However, children who watched TV for more than two hours a day were almost twice as likely to have been diagnosed with asthma as those who watched television less.

By the time youngsters were 11.5 years old, there was little difference in levels of sedentary behaviour between those with breathing problems and those without.

The results were not confined to one gender, nor were they related to current weight, the authors of the report claim.

Scientists suggest breathing patterns in children may be associated with sedentary behaviour, sparking developmental changes in the lungs and subsequent wheezing.