The association between body mass index and duration spent on electronic devices in children and adolescents in Western Saudi Arabia

To the Editor

We have a comment on the research by Al-Agha et al.1 I am extremely grateful for the detailed study in Western Saudi Arabia. The author concluded that the body mass index (BMI) is strongly correlated to the spending time over electronic device. We would like to mention 2 positive aspects of electronic devices related to wearable devices.

Schaefer et al2 conducted health investigation that child obesity was associated with physical activity in agricultural area in California’s Central Valley.2 This region has very low density of population. Therefore, it is hard to collect the information by contact with every single person. Electronic device with wearable equipment is so helpful to gather data from remote place. Granado-Font et al3 made a study of weight loss in 18 aged obese patients or older for effectiveness of mobile application and wearable device. After 3, 6, and 12 months of experiment, body weight was changed in using electric device. There are a number of slightly varying definitions on electronic entertainment and communication devices; however, it has a positive side.

Reply from the Author

This is in response to the comments by Kim. We would like to thank the authors for mentioning 2 positive aspects regarding electronic devices related to wearable devices. They pointed out very interesting pieces of information. Although our study focused on the negative impact of electronic devices on body mass index, we do agree that they may also be of some benefit (wearable electronic devices may be helpful in gathering date from remote places2 and could be a useful weight loss tool to obese primary care patients who want to lose weight3

Abdulmoein E. Al-Agha, F. Sarah Nizar, Anwar M. Nahhas

Department of Pediatrics, King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia