Association of screen time with parent-reported cognitive delay in preschool children of Kerala, India

• Published in: BMC pediatrics Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 73
• Main Authors: John, Jijo Joseph, Joseph, Reny, David, Alice, Bejoy, Ann, George, Kalyan Varghese, George, Lisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 11.02.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Age; Children & youth; Childrens health; Cognition in children; Cognitive delay; Cognitive development; Computers and children; Consent; COVID-19; Developmental delay; Digital broadcasting; Estimates; Families & family life; Health aspects; Parental supervision; Parents; Parents & parenting; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Preschool children; Preschool education; Psychological aspects; Questionnaires; Risk factors; Screen time; Screen use; Skills; Social change; Students; Supervision; Surveys; Technology application; Television and children; India; Cognitive delay; Screen use; Preschool children; Parental supervision
• ISSN: 1471-2431; 1471-2431
• DOI: 10.1186/s12887-021-02545-y

Screen use is increasing rapidly among preschool children and excess screen use in these children has been associated with cognitive side effects and speech delay. We undertook this study to estimate the risk associated with screen time in children, parental supervision, and parent-reported cognitive development among preschool children aged 2-5 years. A cross-sectional study was done between July 2019 and January 2020 involving parents of all students aged 2-5 years, attending 2 kindergarten schools in Thiruvalla using a self-administered questionnaire. Parents also used the Werner David Development pictorial scale (WDDPS), a screening tool to report cognitive development. The schools were sampled based on convenience. Of the 189 children included in the study, 89.4% had excess screen use (> 1 h per day) and the average use was 2.14 h. 45.0% of parents supervised screen use inconsistently (self-reported). Meal-time screen use (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.3-10.8), receiving screen on demand (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.2-11.3), and using devices other than computers (OR 6.5, 95% CI 1.6-26.8) were significantly associated with excess screen use in pre-school children. Similarly, those children with inconsistently supervised screen time were significantly more likely to have suspected deficits in attention (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.3-8.2), intelligence (OR 4.1, 95% CI 1.3-13.3), and social skills (OR 15.3, 95% CI 1.9-121.2), compared to children whose screen use was consistently supervised. Screen time in the majority of preschool children is above the recommended limits, and inconsistent supervision by parents was seen in almost half of the study participants. Inconsistently supervised screen time is associated with suspected cognitive delays in children.