Associations of Regular Internet Usage with All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study

Objectives

The impact of internet usage on mortality is not widely known. This study intended to investigate the associations between regular internet usage and the risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality, while also ascertaining potential factors that may modify these correlations.

Design

A community-based prospective cohort study.

Setting and Participants

The study included 21,481 individuals [mean (SD) age, 64.1 (11.0) years] from the Health and Retirement Study, with data collected between 2006 and 2020.

Methods

The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to evaluate the associations between regular internet usage and the risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality, adjusting for demographic factors, lifestyle behaviors, and other potential confounding factors. Moreover, we explored the association between daily hours of internet usage and the risk of outcomes.

Results

Regular internet usage was significantly associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.74-0.83) and cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.64-0.82). No significant interaction effects were observed for age, sex, regular exercise, or current alcohol consumption (all P interactions > .05). Additionally, estimations for daily hours of usage indicated a U-shaped relationship with all-cause mortality. Adults who used 2.1 to 4 hours per day had the lowest risk; however, not all estimations showed their significance on account of the limited sample size.

Conclusions and Implications

Regular internet usage was associated with a lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, which may prompt consideration of the beneficial impact of internet usage on lifespan.