Limited data are available to guide recommendations re screen time after concussion.
A recent ED study looked at screen time effects on concussion recovery.
Population: 125 patients aged 12 to 25 years presenting to the ED <24h after injury. Mean age 17. Approximately 51% male.
Intervention: Patients were placed in a screen time allowed group and a screen time not allowed group for the first 48 hours. Total minutes reported after the study were 630 minutes vs 130 minutes.
Outcome: Time to symptom resolution. Patients took daily symptom scoring tests for 10 days.
Result: Screen time allowed group had a significantly longer time to recovery (8 days) vs screen time not allowed (3.5 days).
Strength: Good attempt at quantifying effects on early screen time exposure on symptom recovery in an ED population.
Weakness: This was a small study. Many patients (>25%) were lost to follow-up and it relies on symptom self-reporting.
References
Macnow T, et al. Effect of Screen Time on Recovery From Concussion: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. Nov 2021.
