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A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on screen time and the risk of depression in adolescents

Year: 2024
Type: review
Abstract: :Background: Depression is a public health concern worldwide. With the development of society, the impact of screen time on depression has attracted more and more attention. Adolescence is a critical period of physical and mental development, and adolescents' self-control is relatively weak, there are many studies on the impact of screen time on the risk of depression in adolescents, but there are different views, and there is a lack of meta-analysis of screen time on the risk of depression in adolescents. The aim of this article was to conduct a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies on screen time and the risk of depression in adolescents.Methods: We systematically searched the following six databases from inception to May 2024: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Nine prospective cohort studies were included. The odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) was used the pooled measurement. Random-effects meta-analysis was adopted. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was adopted to assess the methodological quality of the included studies.Results: We included nine cohort studies (41194 participants). Overall, the results showed a positive association of baseline screen time and incident depression at follow-up (OR= 1.20 ,95% CI: 1.12–1.28, I² = 81.0%). Adolescents with more screen time have a significantly higher risk of depression compared to adolescents who spend less screen time. Quality of included studies was moderate. In a subgroup analysis, when stratified by screen time in the exposure group, more than 2 hour/ day of screen time in the exposure group (OR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.31–1.84, I²= 0%) was more significantly associated with an increased risk of depression (OR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.31–1.84, I²= 0%) than more than 3 hour/ day of screen time (OR= 1.2, 95% CI: 1.14–1.26, I²= 40.7%). Conclusion: This meta-analysis showed that screen time may be a predictive factor of adolescent depressive symptoms. This meta-analysis supported the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Adolescents should have no more than two hours of screen time. These findings may have important guidelines for preventing depression in adolescents.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104530
Language: English
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,030
OpenAlex ID: W4404028144
FWCI: 1.877
Cites: 36
Cited by: 23
Related to: 10