Descriptive epidemiology of small screen recreation among Australian adolescents

AIM: To describe the epidemiology of small screen recreation (SSR) that is: television, computer, video, and DVD use among school students aged 11-15 years in New South Wales, Australia. METHODS: Cross-sectional representative population survey (n=2750) of 45 primary and 48 secondary schools in rural and urban areas. Self-reported time spent in SSR was categorised according to national guidelines into less than 2 h per day (low users) or 2 or more hours per day (high users). RESULTS: Of primary and secondary school students, 53% and 72%, respectively, were high users of SSR. Boys spent significantly more time in SSR and were more likely to be high users of SSR compared with girls. For primary students, rural boys had a higher prevalence of high SSR use than urban boys (odds ratio (OR) 1.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0-3.5), while overweight girls had a higher prevalence than healthy-weight girls (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.8). For secondary students, rural boys had a lower prevalence of high SSR use than urban boys (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.6), and girls from high SES backgrounds had a lower prevalence than girls from low socio-economic status backgrounds (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.3-1.0). CONCLUSION: The majority of school students in New South Wales exceed the national guidelines for SSR. Reducing the time spent in SSR among young people is one potential approach to increasing energy expenditure and reducing adiposity or maintaining a healthy weight. First steps for intervention strategies among school-age children to reduce SSR could include teaching awareness skills and self-monitoring techniques

The current status of the Korean student health examination

Recent trends place an emphasis on school health care, the ultimate goal of which is to protect,maintain, and promote students’ health. School health care is a program that integrates health careservices, health education, health counseling, and local social health services. The student healthexamination (SHE) system is a part of school health care and schools and communities must beavailable to provide professional health services. Pediatricians also have important roles as experts inboth school health care and the SHE system. In this article, the history of school health care, its legalbasis, and the current status of the SHE system in Korea are reviewed. Furthermore, sample surveysfrom the past few years are reviewed. Through this holistic approach, future directions are proposed forthe improvement of SHE and school health care