Smartphone addiction and its association with accident risk in Iranian adults

In recent years, the widespread use of smartphones has led to concerns about smartphone addiction, which is now recognized as a major social and public health issue. This addiction has resulted in numerous negative consequences, the most significant of which is an increase in different types of accidents. The study aimed to investigate the association between smartphone addiction and the occurrence of different types of accidents. This nationwide population-based study was conducted in Iran in 2024. The target population comprised individuals aged 18 to 65 years. The Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) questionnaire and extra 8 questions about the occurrence of accidents were used to data collection. A total of 983 individuals responded to approximately 5,000 electronically distributed questionnaires (response rate: ~19.7%), which may have introduced selection bias due to the online recruitment method. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, and multivariate logistic regression in SPSS 24. The average age of the respondents was 33.59 years, and the majority (approximately 69%) were women. The average score of smartphone addiction was estimated to be 123.27 (31.7). Traffic related accidents were the most common (about 70%). About 56% of people reported the experience of slipping while using a smartphone. The results showed that smartphone addiction is high among Iranian adults and it is a significant predictor of the occurrence of all kinds of assessed accidents (P < 0.05). The high score of smartphone addiction and their association with various accidents; particularly road traffic accidents and falls; highlight the urgent need for research that reflects Iran's unique social and infrastructural conditions. Key contributing factors include heavy urban traffic, limited public education on safe smartphone use, inadequate infrastructure, and social norms that encourage constant mobile phone engagement. These elements must be addressed to design effective and culturally relevant prevention strategies.