Obesity status of middle school students in Xiangtan and its relationship with Internet addiction

Objective To investigate the state of middle school students' obesity in Xiangtan, China and to study the influence of Internet addiction on obesity. Subjects: 1,150 junior and senior middle school students in Xiangtan, China. Design and Methods The research subjects were select randomly for the study. The height and body weight of human body were measured and the obesity state was judged according to BMI value and the Working Group on Obesity in China (WGOC) standard. The questionnaire for the survey of middle school students' basic situation was designed and a survey of the respondents' personal information and the contributory factors to obesity was conducted. The Middle School Students' Internet Addiction Diagnosis Scale was adopted for measuring and judging the Internet addiction of the research subjects. Results (1) The total detection rate of obesity was 23.57%. (2) The overall detection rate of Internet addiction was 21.23%. (3) The detection rate of obesity in middle school students with Internet addiction (32.92%) was significantly higher than that without Internet addiction (21.06%). Logistic regression showed that Internet addiction was an independent risk factor of obesity. Conclusion Internet addiction is related to obesity of middle school students. © 2013 The Obesity Society.