Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Aim: To assess the possible association between duration of playing electronic games (e-games) and body weight among primary school age children (6-12 years old) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 2015. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on primary school students between the ages of 6-12 years. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the sample as follows. Riyadh is divided into five administrative regions (north, south, middle, east and west). A list of schools in each region was collected and numbered randomly by Random Number Generator (RNG). After choosing random schools, the next step was choosing a random class by RNG and asking all students in that chosen class to fill out the developed questionnaire. Well trained investigators then measured the weight and height of each student. Results: The study included 718 students. Higher Body Mass Index (BMI) was associated with more hours of playing e-games (P=0.008), cooking types of e-games and duration (P=0.023, P=0.018), duration of playing adventure e-games (P=0.008), history of obesity in family (P=0.000), child�s age (0.018), and child�s height (P=0.012). Parents� education, family income, nationality of the participants, house region, personal electronic devices, and age of starting playing e-games were not significantly associated with BMI. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that duration of playing electronic games has an impact on child BMI.

Biography

Abdulaziz Al-Muhanna is a graduate from the College of Medicine at King Saud University in the year 2016. He is currently a Chief Intern at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Email: abdulaziz.almuhanna@gmail.com