title: Obesity and low vision as a result of excessive Internet use and television viewing.
abstract: The technological age has resulted in children spending prolonged hours in front of television (TV) and computer screens (on the Internet). The aim of this prospective cross-sectional study is to determine the effect of this phenomenon on both childhood obesity and low vision in the State of Qatar. A total of 3000 school students aged 6 to 18 years were approached from September 2009 to March 2010 and 2467 (82.2%) students agreed to participate. Face-to-face interviews based on a designed questionnaire were conducted. The highest proportion of obese children were aged between 15-18 years (9.4%; p < 0.001); spent ≥ 3 hours on the Internet (5.6%; p < 0.001), and spent between 5-7 hours or less sleeping (4.1%; p < 0.001). Forty-six (1.9%) children spent ≥ 3 hours/day on the Internet, and were either overweight/obese and had low vision. The study findings confirmed a positive association between obesity and low vision as a result of excessive time spent on the TV view and Internet use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology, Hamad Medical Corporation, Hamad General Hospital, Qatar. abener@hmc.org.qa
authors.forename: Abdulbari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bener
authors.forename: Huda S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Al-Mahdi
authors.forename: Awab I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Mohammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Nufal
authors.forename: Pankit J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Vachhani
authors.forename: Ihab
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tewfik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003201:Computers; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television; D015354:Vision, Low / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*