Obesity and low vision as a result of excessive Internet use and television viewing

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.