Association between Internet Use Behavior and Palpitation among Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study of Middle School Children from Northwest Romania.

PURPOSE: The use of the internet is a tool and media literacy has become an essential skill among adolescents. Related to this behavior, some adolescents evoke cardiovascular effects. The purpose of this study was to explore a possible correlation between internet use behavior and occurrence of palpitations and related symptoms among a representative cohort of adolescents from the north-west region of Romania.

METHOD: The study included students of seven middle schools from Northwest Romania. Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire consisting of 18 questions about internet use.

RESULTS

In total, 1147 students responded to the study. Mean duration of daily internet usage was 2.57 h during school time and 3.57 h during the holidays. A total of 77% of adolescents had more than one symptom related to internet use, and 11% of them reported palpitations and related symptoms. We found an independent relation between palpitation and urban background, palpitations and the internet usage time interval 20:00-24:00, and palpitations and tobacco smoking. Strong heartbeats were independently associated with the time interval 12:00-16:00, tobacco smoking, and energy drink consumption.

CONCLUSION

In our cohort, the most important factors associated with the occurrence of palpitations and related symptoms were the timeframe of internet usage and smoking.