Effects of screen exposure on morbidity risk in children with autism spectrum disorder and language retardation / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effects of screen exposure on morbidity risk in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or language retardation.Methods:In a case-control study, 64 children with autism spectrum disorder were selected as the ASD group, 64 children with language retardation as the language retardation group, and 52 normal children as the control group. Descriptive analysis, t-test, Chi-square test, Logistic regression analysis and other statistical methods of SPSS 17.0 software were used to analyze the data.The differences of screen exposure between the case groups and control group were compared to analyze the effects of screen exposure on the diseases. Results:There were statistically significant differences in daily cumulative screen time ( F=27.758), duration of screen exposure ( F=12.516), first-time exposure to screen(χ 2 = 13.749) and parents' explanation during screen contact(χ 2 = 16.368) among the three group (all P<0.05). The proportion of first-time exposure to screen before 1 year old was 65.62% (42/64) in ASD group, 40.63% (26/64) in language retardation group and 33.33%(17/51) in control group. Compared with the control group ((1.42±1.44)h), the ASD group ((4.04±2.00)h) and the language delay group ((3.53±2.07)h) had longer daily cumulative screen time, and the differences were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Compared with the control group ((6.14±4.59) months), children in the ASD group ((11.97±7.32) months) or the language retardation group ((9.96±5.15) months) had the longer duration of screen exposure, and the differences were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Compared with the control group, parents in ASD group and language retardation group elaborated less while the children were exposed to screen, the differences were statistically significant (both P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that cumulative daily exposure time less than 2 hours ( β=-5.338, OR=0.005, 95% CI=0.001-0.120), democratically parenting style ( β=-3.279, OR=0.038, 95% CI=0.003-0.554), paternal age less than 35 years old ( β=-5.432, OR=0.004, 95% CI=0.001-0.691) were protective factors for autism spectrum disorder, while paternal education level below junior college was a risk factor ( β=3.125, OR=22.755, 95% CI=1.866-277.463). Cumulative exposure time less than 2 hours per day ( β=-3.357, OR=0.035, 95% CI=0.002-0.526) was a protective factor for language retardation, and paternal education less than college degree ( β=2.740, OR=15.482, 95% CI=1.350-177.573) was a risk factor for language retardation. Conclusion:Excessive screen exposure has certain effects on morbidity risk of autism spectrum disorder and language retardation, which should be paid more attention to.