A comparison of central and peripheral refractions between 4-6 years old Children user and non-user of smartphones and/or other electronic screens

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the present study is to compare central and peripheral refraction among children of 4-6 year-old user and non-user of smartphones and /or other electronic screens. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 106 children aged 4-6 years were enrolled in two groups of user (56 children: 34 boys and 22 girls) and non-user (50 children: 30 girls and 20 boys) of smartphones and /or other electronic screens. The user group used smartphones and /or other electronic screens for 1-3 hours a day for at least one year and non-user group either did not use these screens or used less than half an hour occasionally and not every day. All children had visual acuity of at least 20/20 with or without correction and showed no other ocular or systemic diseases. Both groups were evaluated for central refraction and peripheral refraction up to 20° eccentricity in nasal and temporal directions and up to 10° eccentricity in superior direction using the Shin-Nippon K5001 autorefractometer. The outcome measures were compared with SPSS statistical software. Results: The findings showed no statistically significant difference in terms of central and peripheral refraction in superior, nasal and temporal eccentricities between the user and non-user groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, it concludes that using smartphones and/or other electronic screens for 1-3 hours a day shows no effect on central and peripheral refraction in children with low range of refractive errors.

Keywords

• smartphone
• electronic screens
• peripheral refraction
• central refraction