Associations between screen use, outdoor time/daylight exposure and sleep changes during the first COVID‐19 lockdown in French children from the ELFE and EPIPAGE2 birth cohorts
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Aims: To investigate associations between outdoor and screen time and changes in sleep patterns in children from two nationwide birth‐cohorts in the SAPRIS project. Methods: During the first French COVID‐19 pandemic lockdown, volunteer parents of children enrolled in the ELFE and EPIPAGE2 birth‐cohorts completed online questions about their child's outdoor time, screen time, and changes in sleep duration and quality compared with the pre‐lockdown situation. In 5700 children (aged 8–9 years, 52% boys) with available data, we assessed associations between outdoor time, screen time, and sleep changes using multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for confounders. Results: Children spent on average 3 h08 outdoors and 4 h34 using screens/day (3 h27 for leisure, 1 h07 for class‐work). Sleep duration increased in 36% of children and decreased in 13.4%; sleep difficulties appeared/increased in 22.5% and decreased/disappeared/remained stable in 18.3%. After adjustment, increased screen time, especially for leisure, was associated with increased and decreased sleep duration (OR(95%CI) = 1.03(1.00–1.06) and OR = 1.06(1.02–1.10), respectively). No association was observed between outdoor time and sleep changes after adjustment. Conclusions: Our study adds evidence for the association between high leisure‐time screen time and shorter sleep time. It supports current screen guidelines for children, especially during leisure time and for those whose sleep duration is short.
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There is a positive association between both total screen time and leisure screen time with the onset or worsening of sleep difficulties (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95 to 1.06).
“Fogno (39) found a positive association between both total screen time and leisure screen time with the onset or worsening of sleep difficulties (OR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95 to 1.06).”
From The association of screen time and the risk of sleep outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2025) · cites this paper as Fogno (39)
The Results report a positive association between total and leisure screen time and new or worsening sleep difficulties in unadjusted analyses, but say it did not remain after adjustment. Table 2 lists the quoted OR of 1.01 (95% CI 0.95–1.06) for adjusted school screen time, not for total or leisure screen time. (LLM, conf=0.93)
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- Authors
- Kamga Fogno, A. W., Rouquette, A., Gronfier, C., Bernard, J. Y., Plancoulaine, S., & SAPRIS study group
- Affiliations
- Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Inserm, INRAE, Center for Research in Epidemiology and StatisticS (CRESS) Paris France
- Inserm (FR)
- Lyon 1 Université (FR)
- Agency for Science, Technology and Research (SG)
- Corresponding author
- Plancoulaine, Sabine
- Venue
- CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2023-02-20
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1649-1656
- ISSN
- 1755-5930 (ISSN-L)
- 1755-5949
- PMC
- PMC10173720
- OpenAlex
- W4321372680
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 0.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR‐20‐CE36‐0001)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- screen time, outdoor time, daylight exposure, children's sleep, sleep duration, sleep quality, sleep disorders, COVID-19 lockdown, leisure screen time, screen time guidelines, ELFE birth cohort
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Birth Cohort, Child, Communicable Disease Control, Female, Humans, Male, Sleep, Pandemics
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