Screen time and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis

Hezuo Liu; Xiaorong Chen; Minhui Huang; Xiaomin Yu; Ye Gan; Ji Wang; Qiujin Chen; Zhipeng Nie; Haijing Ge

doi:10.1515/reveh-2022-0262

Screen time and childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis

Rev Environ Health. 2023 May 11. doi: 10.1515/reveh-2022-0262. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Hezuo Liu¹, Xiaorong Chen¹, Minhui Huang¹, Xiaomin Yu², Ye Gan¹, Ji Wang¹, Qiujin Chen³, Zhipeng Nie⁴, Haijing Ge¹

Affiliations

¹ Ninghai Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Ningbo, China.
² Child Health Department, Ninghai Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Ningbo, China.
³ Wuxi City Disease Prevention Control Center, Wuxi, China.
⁴ Ninghai County Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, China.

PMID: 37163581
DOI: 10.1515/reveh-2022-0262

Abstract

Objectives: The association between screen time and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been controversial. This study sheds light on the contentious correlation between screen time and ADHD.

Content: Until August 2022, electronic searches of the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were carried out. The combined effect value odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) were calculated for the meta-analysis using Stata 12.0. There were 81,234 children in the nine studies that made up this meta-analysis which included 28,997 children with ADHD and 52,237 healthy controls. When compared with the screen time <2 h/d, the OR (95 % CI) value of screen time and ADHD in the screen time ≥2 h/d group was 1.51 (1.20-1.90).

Summary and outlook: Based on the current meta-analysis results, our study found a positive correlation between screen time and the risk of ADHD. Excessive screen exposure may significantly contribute to the development of ADHD in children. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce screen time per day in children to prevent the occurrence of ADHD.

Keywords: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; children; meta-analysis; screen time.

Publication types

Review