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Screen Time Exposure and Altered Sleep in Young Children With Epilepsy
Author(s) -
Lin YingYing,
Lee WangTso,
Yang HsiaoLing,
Weng WenChin,
Lee ChienChang,
Jeng SuhFang,
Tsai ShaoYu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of nursing scholarship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1547-5069
pISSN - 1527-6546
DOI - 10.1111/jnu.12558
Subject(s) - actigraphy , medicine , sleep (system call) , epilepsy , sleep onset latency , screen time , pediatrics , sleep onset , neurology , physical therapy , insomnia , psychiatry , physical activity , computer science , operating system
Purpose To examine the association between daily screen time exposure and both sleep patterns (sleep onset, sleep offset, and nighttime, and daily sleep durations) and sleep disturbances among a clinical sample of children with epilepsy. Design A cross‐sectional actigraphic sleep study. Methods A convenience sample of 141 children with epilepsy (1.5–6 years of age) was recruited from an outpatient pediatric neurology clinic of a university‐affiliated children's hospital in northern Taiwan. Participating families completed questionnaires and reported children's screen time use, with children wearing an actigraphy monitor for 7 days to assess sleep patterns. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association of screen time exposure with the child's sleep patterns and sleep disturbance scores. Findings Mean minutes per day of screen time exposure was 89.79 ± 83.94 min, with 62 parents (44.0%) reporting their child having >1 hr of screen time daily. Mean daily sleep duration was 9.26 ± 1.01 hr, with 106 children (93.0%) sleeping <10 hr in a 24‐hr period. In multivariate regression models, daily screen time exposure of >1 hour was associated with 23.4‐min later sleep onset (b = 0.39, p = .02), 20.4‐min later sleep offset (b = 0.34, p = .04), and more severe sleep disturbances (b = 2.42, p = .04). Conclusions In toddlers and preschool‐age children with epilepsy, daily screen time exposure is greater and sleep duration is shorter than the recommended amount, with increased screen time exposure associated with disturbed sleep. Clinical Relevance Parents need to be informed about the possible adverse impact of screen time exposure on children's sleep and health as well as the importance of limiting screen time exposure to <1 hr per day for their toddlers and preschool‐age children with epilepsy.