Obesity

Obesity has reaches epidemic proportional globally, it is the serious and growing public health problem which is not only restrained to developed countries but also in developing countries, Obesity is not receiving the attention they deserve from primary care practitioners. Obesity is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability often co-existing in developing countries with under-nutrition. It is associated with serious medical, psychological, economical and social implications virtually affecting all age group. The global reason behind it is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and expended. In today’s diet increased intake of energy dense foods that is rich in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients and a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization.

Obesity is a growing health issue of all age groups throughout the world that leads to increasing prevalence of different diseases including eye problems. However, there is scarcity of literature available showing association of obesity and refractive errors like myopia especially among young Saudi males. Therefore we design this study to investigate the incidence as well as relation of myopia with obesity in young male Saudi medical students. Around 104 young Saudi medical students were included in the study. Height and weight were measured using standard procedure; Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat percentage were calculated. Visual Acuity (VA) for both right (Rt) and left (Lt) eyes were recorded separately using E letter chart. Results of the study showed 56% of the participants were overweight or obese with BMI more than 25. Obese group demonstrated significantly higher values of weight, BMI and body fat percentage. Mean values of visual acuity obtained from non-obese and obese subjects were significantly different for Rt. eye(1.29+0.06 and 1.0+0.07) and Lt. eye (1.23+0.06 and 0.98+0.07) respectively. Myopia is common among medical students and myopics are taller, heavier and have higher BMI.