SynthesisFrontiers in psychiatry2022
Screen time and depression risk: A meta-analysis of cohort studies.
Synthesis in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between screen time exposure and myopia in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- StandUPTV: a full-factorial optimization trial to reduce sedentary screen time among adults.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Trial
- Depressive Symptom Patterns and Digital Screen Exposure Among Adults in Qatar: A Cross-Sectional Study With Implications for Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Practice.Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing · 2026Article
- Parental, peer, and individual determinants of depression among adolescents and young adults: estimates from a within-between model.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Article
- Digital, Media, and Information Literacies and the Well-Being of Neurotypical and Neurodivergent Children: A Synthetic Knowledge Synthesis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Survey Showed That Limiting Daily Screen Time Could Help to Avoid Mental Health Issues in Children Aged 8-17Years.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Article
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- Interindividual differences in digital phenotypes of major depressive disorder: A passive sensing study using smartphone and wearable sensor data.Behaviour research and therapy · 2026Article
- Ten years of screen time among medical students in Dresden, Germany: unveiling the trends.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report.Pediatrics · 2026Review
- Associations of sedentary behavior and weekday lifestyle with mental health among Chinese senior high school students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Screen time, physical activity, sleep, and depression risk in adolescents: an observational study based on the compositional isotemporal substitution model.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- The divergent impacts of digital engagement on depression: a longitudinal study of competitive resource mechanisms.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Screen time and its association with psychological wellbeing and sleep quality: overview of the Fujian Adolescent Mental Wellness Study (FAMWeS).Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Digital behavior and anxiety in the post-pandemic era: a five-year analysis of screen time, sleep, and behavioral risk profiles.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Mental vulnerability, family dysfunction, and digital exposure: Overlooked burdens in populations with noncommunicable chronic diseases.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Adolescent screen time, anxiety/depression, and alcohol/e-cigarette use: evidence from the ABCD study.BMC public health · 2025Article
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- Changes in prefrontal hemodynamics and mood states during screen use: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The impact of screen time on mental health, including depression, has attracted increasing attention from not only children and adolescents but also the elderly. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of cohort studies to evaluate the association between screen time and depression risk. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were searched for cohort studies up to May 2022, and the reference lists of the included studies were also retrieved. A random-effect model was used to estimate the combined effect size. Heterogeneity was assessed with the Results: The final analysis included 18 cohort studies with a combined total of 241,398 participants. The pooled risk ratio (RR) was 1.10 (95% confidence interval: 1.05-1.14), with significant heterogeneity ( Conclusion: This study indicates that screen time is a predictor of depressive symptoms. The effects of screen time on depression risk may vary based on the participant's age, gender, location, and screen time duration. The findings could have important implications for the prevention of depression.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.