ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2020
The association between recreational screen time and cancer risk: findings from the UK Biobank, a large prospective cohort study.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between domain-specific sedentary behaviour and endometrial cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2023Pooled it
- Accelerometry-measured prolonged and interrupted sedentary behavior and cancer incidence and mortality: A cohort study of 91,292 UK Biobank participants.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Sedentary behaviour and cancer risk: a World Cancer Research Fund International Global Cancer Update Programme (CUP Global) systematic literature review and meta-analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Effects of the Fit2Thrive technology-supported physical activity promotion intervention components on sedentary behavior and light physical activity in breast cancer survivors.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- CanRisk-DB: an artificial intelligence-driven comprehensive database of cancer risk factors.NPJ precision oncology · 2025Article
- Prolonged exposure to leisure screen time notably accelerates biological aging: Evidence from observational studies and genetic associations.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Observational
- Does sedentary time and physical activity predict chronic back pain and morphological brain changes? A UK biobank cohort study in 33,402 participants.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Digital Screen Time and the Risk of Female Breast Cancer: A Retrospective Matched Case-Control Study.Journal of biomedical physics & engineering · 2024Article
- Association Between Adherence to 24-Hour Movement Guidelines and Noncommunicable Disease Risk in Chinese Adults: Prospective Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Pancreatic Cancer Risk: A Mendelian Randomization Study.Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2024Article
- Leisure time television watching, computer use and risks of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer: A Mendelian randomisation analysis.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
- Association of intrinsic capacity with incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease: Prospective study in UK Biobank.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2023Article
- Effect of replacing television viewing with different intensities of physical activity on COVID-19 mortality risk: Short communication from UK Biobank.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2023Article
- Article
- Unhealthy Lifestyle, Genetics and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in 76,958 Individuals from the UK Biobank Cohort Study.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Adverse associations of sedentary behavior with cancer incidence and all-cause mortality: A prospective cohort study.Journal of sport and health science · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEvidence is suggestive of sedentary behaviour being associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer, but the evidence base is too limited to draw any conclusions for other cancers. The aim of the study was to investigate the association between recreational screen time and site-specific cancer risk.
methodsWe analysed data from the prospective UK Biobank cohort study. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between daily recreational screen time (including television (TV) viewing time, computer use time and total screen time) and site-specific cancer risk. Partition models and isotemporal substitution models investigated the impact of substituting recreational screen time with physical activity.
resultsDuring a mean follow-up of 7.6 years, 28,992 incident cancers were identified among 470,578 adults. A 1-h increase in daily TV viewing time was associated with higher risks of oropharyngeal, oesophago-gastric and colon cancer in fully adjusted models. Participants who reported ≤1, compared with 1- ≤ 3, hours/day of TV viewing time had lower risks of lung, breast, and oesophago-gastric cancer. Findings were inconsistent for daily recreational computer use and daily total recreational screen time. The majority of observed associations were small, and were attenuated after excluding cancers diagnosed within the first two years of follow-up, except for oesophago-gastric and colon cancers (HR 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.10; and HR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.07 per 1-h increase in daily TV viewing time, respectively). However, isotemporal substitution models showed reduced risk of some site-specific (oropharyngeal, lung, breast and colorectal) cancers when replacing 1-h/day of TV viewing with 1-h of moderate-intensity physical activity or walking.
conclusionsOur findings show that daily recreational screen time, particularly TV viewing, was associated with small increased risks of oesophago-gastric and colon cancer. Replacing 1-h/day of TV viewing with 1-h of moderate-intensity physical activity or walking was associated with lower risk of oropharyngeal, lung, breast and colorectal cancers. Further research from other large prospective cohort studies is required, while mechanistic research is warranted to enhance the biological plausibility of these findings.
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