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

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID lockdown; children; outdoor light exposure; screen; sleep.