Self-rated Health in Youth with Different Screen Time in Their Adolescence: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

The long-term effects of childhood screen time on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between screen time during adolescence and sex-specific HRQoL in early youth.

We studied the data from 642 adolescents aged 13-19 years, who participated in the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study from 2005 to 2011 (baseline) with complete data on HRQoL in their early adulthood (22-28 years at the last follow-up). Physical and Mental HRQoL were assessed using the Iranian version of the short-form 12-item health survey version 2 (SF-12v2). Screen time and leisure-time physical activity were evaluated using the Iranian Modifiable Activity Questionnaire (MAQ). All analyses were conducted in Stata (version 14); MI used the mi impute command.

The mean±SD of age, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity in childhood were 16.33±1.27, 23.27±4.63 and 13.77±16.07, respectively. Overall, 35% of boys and 34% of girls had high screen time (HST) in childhood. In general, the HRQoL scores in male participants were higher than in females in both the mental and physical domains. HST in males in childhood was associated with decreased mental health (β=-6.41, 95% CI: -11.52, -1.3 and P=0.014), social functioning (β=-5.9, 95% CI: -11.23, -0.57 and P=0.03) and mental component summary (MCS) (β=-2.86, 95% CI: -5.26, -0.45 and P=0.02). The odds of poor MCS were significantly higher in those with HST compared to their counterparts with low screen time (LST) after adjusting for all potential cofounders.

The results of the present study showed the negative effect of screen time during adolescence on HRQoL in early youth. This effect was observed in men, mainly in the mental dimension. Investigating the long-term consequences of screen-time behaviors on self-assessed health in other populations with the aim of effective primary prevention is also suggested.