The association between screen exposure and autism spectrum disorder in children: meta-analysis

Hezuo Liu; Xiaohong Zhu; Bin Ge; Minhui Huang; Xing Li

doi:10.1515/reveh-2024-0147

Article

The association between screen exposure and autism spectrum disorder in children: meta-analysis

Hezuo Liu , Xiaohong Zhu , Bin Ge , Minhui Huang and Xing Li

Published/Copyright: December 30, 2024

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From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 40 Issue 2

Abstract

Introduction

The goal is to provide light on the contentious relationship between screen exposure and childhood autism spectrum disorder (ASD). By conducting two meta-analyses that showed a potential association, including screen exposure effect by ASD and ASD risk by screen exposure, we aimed to clarify the potential causality between screen exposure and childhood ASD.

Content

The literature published up to December 2023 were systematically collected, and the combined effect values of weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) and odds ratio (OR) and 95 % CI were calculated using two meta-analyses using the STATA 12.0. A total of 197,357 children, including 4,599 childhood ASD, were finally included in 10 studies. The results showed that children with ASD had higher levels of screen time exposure than healthy controls (combined effect value WMD=0.27, 95 % CI: 0.12–0.41, p<0.001). An increased risk of ASD was also found in children with high screen exposure compared to the low screen exposure group (OR=1.5395 % CI: 1.14–2.06).

Summary and outlook

The development of childhood ASD may be associated with screen exposure. Future prospective studies are needed to verify the relationship between screen exposure and ASD in children.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; children; screen exposure; meta-analysis

Corresponding author: Xing Li, People’s Hospital of Longhua, Shenzhen 518109, China, E-mail: 15626451593@163.com

Acknowledgments

The author wish to acknowledge the staff of Child Health Department of Ninghai maternal and child health hospital and Dr. Dan Xiong for supporting this systematic review.

Research ethics: Not applicable.
Informed consent: Not applicable.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: None declared.
Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
Research funding: None declared.
Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2024-10-08

Accepted: 2024-12-10

Published Online: 2024-12-30

Published in Print: 2025-06-26

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2024-0147

Keywords for this article

autism spectrum disorder; children; screen exposure; meta-analysis