TY - JOUR
T1 - TV, computer, tablet and smartphone use and autism spectrum disorder risk in early childhood
T2 - a nationally-representative study
AU - Melchior, Maria
AU - Barry, Katharine
AU - Cohen, David
AU - Plancoulaine, Sabine
AU - Bernard, Jonathan Y.
AU - Milcent, Karen
AU - Gassama, Malamine
AU - Gomajee, Ramchandar
AU - Charles, Marie Aline
N1 - Funding Information:
The ELFE study is a joint project between the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), in partnership with the French blood transfusion service (Etablissement français du sang, EFS), Santé Publique France, the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the Direction Générale de la Santé (DGS, part of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the Direction Générale de la Prévention des Risques (DGPR, Ministry for the Environment), the Direction de la Recherche, des Etudes, de l’Evaluation et des Statistiques (DREES, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the Département des Etudes, de la Prospective et des Statistiques (DEPS, Ministry of Culture), and the Caisse Nationale des Allocations Familiales (CNAF), with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Institut National de la Jeunesse et de l’Education Populaire (INJEP).
Funding Information:
The ELFE cohort is supported by state funding from the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) within the framework of the “Future Investments” programme (reference: ANR-11-EQPX-0038; ANR-19-COHO-001), as part of the RECONAI platform. This research is further supported by ANR funding under the reference ANR-20-CE36-0001 and an ERC-Consolidator grant (RESEDA, ERC-2020-COG-101001420).
Funding Information:
The ELFE study is a joint project between the French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED) and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), in partnership with the French blood transfusion service (Etablissement fran?ais du sang, EFS), Sant? Publique France, the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), the Direction G?n?rale de la Sant? (DGS, part of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the Direction G?n?rale de la Pr?vention des Risques (DGPR, Ministry for the Environment), the Direction de la Recherche, des Etudes, de l?Evaluation et des Statistiques (DREES, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs), the D?partement des Etudes, de la Prospective et des Statistiques (DEPS, Ministry of Culture), and the Caisse Nationale des Allocations Familiales (CNAF), with the support of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Institut National de la Jeunesse et de l?Education Populaire (INJEP).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Background: Screen media use in early childhood has largely increased in recent years, even more so during the COVID-19 epidemic, and there is much discussion regarding its influence on neurodevelopment, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: We examined the relationship between use of TV, computer, tablet and smartphone at age 2 years and risk of ASD assessed in telephone-based questionnaires among 12,950 children participating in the nationally representative ELFE (‘Etude Longitudinale Française sur les Enfants’) birth cohort study in France. Results: In inverse-probability weighted (IPW) multinomial regression analyses, children’s weekly or daily screen media use was associated with an increased likelihood of an intermediate risk of ASD (IPW-controlled OR for weekly use:1.07, 95% CI 1.02—1.12; IPW-controlled OR for daily use:1.05, 95% CI 1.02—1.08) but inversely associated with a high risk (IPW-controlled OR for weekly use: 0.60, 95% CI 0.50—0.73; IPW-controlled OR for daily use: 0.75, 95% CI 0.62—0.91), as ascertained by the M-CHAT. This was confirmed when studying TV as well as computer/tablet exposure separately. Conclusions: Overall, our nationally-representative study conducted among a large sample of 2-year-old children, indicates a complex relationship between screen exposure and ASD risk.
AB - Background: Screen media use in early childhood has largely increased in recent years, even more so during the COVID-19 epidemic, and there is much discussion regarding its influence on neurodevelopment, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: We examined the relationship between use of TV, computer, tablet and smartphone at age 2 years and risk of ASD assessed in telephone-based questionnaires among 12,950 children participating in the nationally representative ELFE (‘Etude Longitudinale Française sur les Enfants’) birth cohort study in France. Results: In inverse-probability weighted (IPW) multinomial regression analyses, children’s weekly or daily screen media use was associated with an increased likelihood of an intermediate risk of ASD (IPW-controlled OR for weekly use:1.07, 95% CI 1.02—1.12; IPW-controlled OR for daily use:1.05, 95% CI 1.02—1.08) but inversely associated with a high risk (IPW-controlled OR for weekly use: 0.60, 95% CI 0.50—0.73; IPW-controlled OR for daily use: 0.75, 95% CI 0.62—0.91), as ascertained by the M-CHAT. This was confirmed when studying TV as well as computer/tablet exposure separately. Conclusions: Overall, our nationally-representative study conducted among a large sample of 2-year-old children, indicates a complex relationship between screen exposure and ASD risk.
KW - Autism spectrum disorder
KW - Birth cohort study
KW - ELFE
KW - Screen media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129219607&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-022-13296-5
DO - 10.1186/s12889-022-13296-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 35490214
AN - SCOPUS:85129219607
SN - 1472-698X
VL - 22
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 865
ER -