In children, too much time spent in front of a screen, whether it is a tablet, a phone or a television, can increase the risk of heart and metabolic diseases, according to a study carried out in Denmark and published on Wednesday.
“Children and young adults who spend excessive hours glued to screens and electronic devices may present increased risks of cardiometabolic diseases, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and resistance to insulin”, according to a study published in the journal Journal of the American Heart Associationsaid the latter in a statement.
They then incur more risk of developing cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
Using data from cohorts of children 10 years and 18 years old – in total more than 1000 – on their screen consumption and sleep habits, the researchers examined the relationship between screen time and so -called cardiometabolic risk factors.
The analysis revealed that each additional hour of screen time would increase the risk of illness and that the gap was greater in people aged 18 than those of 10 years.
In addition, the risk worsens when sleeping time decreases.
“This means that a child with three hours of screen time per day would have a global risk of the order of a quarter to a half-typist higher than that of his peers,” said David Horner, principal author of the study and researcher at the University of Copenhagen, quoted in the press release.
“Multiply this at the scale of an entire population of children, and you observe a significant evolution in early cardiometabolic risk that could persist in adulthood,” he warned.
The deleterious effect of screens on children and adolescents is not fully consensus in researchers, but the majority agree that the youngest are more likely than adults.
