January 2017 Vol. 5 No.1

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Original Research Article

The Association Between Duration of Playing Electronic Games (E-Games) and Body Weight Among Primary School Age Children (6-12 Years Old) in Saudi Arabia

Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Muhanna, Abdulaziz Hamad Alhamad, Mamdouh Nawaf Alenezi^*, Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Towim, Khalid O. Alshaibani and Abdulelah Althowaini

King Saud University, P. O. BOX 2454, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: mamdouh.n.alenezi@gmail.com
Phone: (+966) 582000231

Accepted December 31, 2016

Abstract

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. 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 East). A list of schools in each region was collected and numbered randomly by the Random Number Generator (RNG). After choosing random schools, the next step was choosing a random class by the 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. 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 (P =0.018), and child’s height (P =0.012). The study demonstrates that duration of playing electronic games has an impact on child BMI.

Key words: Children, Electronic games, Obesity, Overweight