Impact of Screentime on quality of life in children with Autism and Social communication disorder – A Comparative study

(9) April  2023 | Volume 1  |  Issue 2

Abstract

Background:

Autism    is    a    neurodevelopmental    disorder  

with   impairment   in   social   emotional   and  

communication    domains    and    presence    of  

repetitive   behaviours   and   restrictive   interest.

Social communication disorder is closely related  

to  Autism  and  is  characterized  by  a  persistent  

difficult   y i   n usin   g verba   l an   d nonverbal  

communication in a socially appropriate manner  

with absence of stereotypical behaviour present  

in autism. Excessive screen time has significant  

impact on the quality of life of children especially  

those  with  neurodevelopmental  disorders  like  

autism,   SCD.Quality   of   life   evaluation   has  

a  significant  influenc e o n th e treatmen t and  

intervention  options  of  ASD  children.  Hence,  

this  study  was  conducted  to  compare  the  effect  

of screentime in quality of life of children with  

autism and SCD.

Methods:

60  children  in  the  age  group  of  2-10  years  

diagnosed with ASD/SCD along with 60 age and  

sex  matched  normal  children  as  controls  were  

included  in  the  study. After  applying  exclusion  

criteria,   informed   consent,   detailed   history  

including  complete  details  of  screen  exposure  

was obtained and evaluation was done. Pediatric  

Quality of life inventory (PedsQL) was used to  

assess  the  quality  of  life  of  these  children.Data  

were  analysed  and  comparison  was  done  using  

SPSS-23 statistical software.

Results:

In the study,8 girls and 20 boys were diagnosed  

with  SCD  and  10  girls  and  22  boys  were  

diagnosed  with  ASD.65%  of  children  were  in  

2-5  years  of  age  and  35  %  were  in  5-10  year  

age group. Children with ASD with screen time  

<2hrs  was  59.3%  and  >2hrs  was  40.7%  and  in  

SCD, screen time < 2 hours was 82.1% and  >2  

hours was 17.8%. 8(72.7%) children with severe  

ASD had screen time >2 hours while only 1 child  

with severe SCD had screen time >2 hours.The  

quality of life was significantly different between  

the control and the ASD/SCD groups with ASD  

group  more  significantly  affected . Further , the  

difference  in  quality  of  life    was  statistically  

significant  with  ASD  and  SCD  having  higher  

screen   exposure,   with   ASD   children   more  

affected (p value < 0.01%)

Conclusion:

Quality of life is affected in children with ASD  

and SCD, but more so in ASD children with screen  

exposure. Hence parents must strictly adhere to  

the  screen  time  guidelines  of  Indian  Academy  

of  Pediatrics  to  improve  the  overall  prognosis INDIAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS

(10) April  2023 | Volume 1  |  Issue 2      Aadarsh Pvt. Ltd.

and  quality  of  life  in  children  with  autism  

and  SCD,  which  in  turn  may  have  significant  

effect  on  effectivenes s o f therapy. Whil e giving  

therapy  with  electronic  tools  in  children  with  

communication  disorders,  specific  caution  on  

quality of program should be considered for the  

ASD subgroups than in SCD