Global Prevalence of Meeting Screen Time Guidelines Among Children 5 Years and Younger

Pediatric guidelines suggest that infants younger than 2 years avoid screen time altogether, while children aged 2 to 5 years receive no more than 1 hour per day. Although these guidelines have been adopted around the world, substantial variability exists in adherence to the guidelines, and precise estimates are needed to inform public health and policy initiatives.

To derive the pooled prevalence via meta-analytic methods of children younger than 2 years and children aged 2 to 5 years who are meeting guidelines about screen time. DATA SOURCES: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase up to March 2020. STUDY SELECTION: Studies were included if participants were 5 years and younger and the prevalence of meeting (or exceeding) screen time guidelines was reported. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Data extraction followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Two independent reviewers extracted all relevant data. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to derive the mean prevalence rates. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Prevalence of meeting screen time guidelines.