Eye health and screen time: a study on children in the early stages of literacy

Abstract

Introduction: Prolonged screen use has been causing harm to children’s health and may compromise learning during the early years of literacy, which are fundamental to success in subsequent school stages. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of eye symptoms and examine the relationship between eye health and screen use. Methods: A total of 432 children enrolled in the 1st and 2nd grades of public elementary school in a municipality in northern Rio Grande do Sul participated between October and December 2023. The children’s parents completed a questionnaire containing sociodemographic, epidemiological, and behavioral information about their children. Statistical analysis of the data was performed, including a description of variable frequencies and testing the significance level (p<0.05) of the independent variables in relation to the dependent variable (ocular symptoms). Results: 89.6% of children have access to screens, with the cell phone (63.7%) being the predominant device, followed by television (26.6%). Screen time exceeding 2 hours per day was observed in 63.7% of cases. The most reported symptoms were headache (38.7%), eye itching (27.3%), and asthenopia (22%), which were more frequent among children with screen time exceeding 2 hours per day (p<0.05). Only 30 children were not exposed to screens, and among these, less than 1% presented any of the evaluated symptoms. Conclusions: Screen exposure was highly prevalent in the study population, with a predominance of cell phone use and exposure exceeding two hours per day. Headaches, eye itching, and asthenopia were significantly more frequent among those with longer screen time, suggesting that exposure exceeding 2 hours may negatively affect children’s health.