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Meta-Analysis
. 2023:28:64.
doi: 10.1265/ehpm.23-00177.

Dose-response relationship between daily screen time and the risk of low back pain among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of 57831 participants

Cheng Yue  1 , Guo Wenyao  1 , Ya Xudong  1 , Shao Shuang  1 , Shao Zhuying  1 , Zhu Yizheng  1 , Zhou Linlin  1 , Chen Jinxin  2 , Wang Xingqi  3 , Liu Yujia  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Dose-response relationship between daily screen time and the risk of low back pain among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of 57831 participants

Cheng Yue et al. Environ Health Prev Med. 2023.

Abstract

Background: The risk of low back pain (LBP) increases steeply during adolescence, and adolescents with LBP are more likely to have low back pain in their adult years. This study aimed to investigate the dose-response relationship between daily screen time and the risk of low back pain among children and adolescents.

Methods: PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science were searched to collect relevant studies on daily screen time and the risk of low back pain from the establishment of the database up to December 2022. Two investigators independently screened the literature, extracted data, and evaluated the risk of bias in the included studies. Stata16.0 was used to perform a dose-response meta-analysis and the methodological quality evaluation of the included studies.

Results: The results of the meta-analysis showed that there is a positive correlation between daily computer time (OR = 1.32, 1.05-1.60), daily mobile phone time (OR = 1.32, 1.00-1.64), daily TV watching (OR = 1.07, 1.04-1.09) and the risk of low back pain, separately. The dose-response meta-analysis showed that there is a linear relationship between daily computer use and low back pain. The risk of low back pain increased by 8.2% for each 1-hour of daily computer use.

Conclusions: Screen time is related to the risk of low back pain, and there is a linear relationship between daily computer use and the risk of low back pain. A number of strategic measures should be taken to prevent adolescents from developing severe low back pain.

Keywords: Adolescent; Dose-response; Low back pain; Meta-analysis; Screen.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the study selection process.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Association between daily screen time and the risk of LBP. A. Association between daily computer time and the risk of LBP. B. Association between daily mobile phone time and the risk of LBP. C. Association between daily TV watching and the risk of LBP.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Bias funnel plot of the association between screen time and the risk of LBP. A. Bias funnel plot of the association between daily computer time and the risk of LBP. B. Bias funnel plot of the association between daily mobile phone time and the risk of LBP. C. Bias funnel plot of the association between daily TV watching and the risk of LBP.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
A sensitivity analysis of daily computer time and LBP. Each circle represents the estimated effect and 95% confidence interval when the study was excluded.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Dose-response relationship between daily computer time and the risk of LBP.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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