Use of electronic screens as a sign of early autism: an integrative review

The autism spectrum disorder (ASD) consists in psychological and behavioral changes that usually manifest in the first years of life as difficulties in communication and learning. This condition is still not completely understood, existing difficulties in establishing possible risk factors. This integrative review aims to analyze the data available till this moment not only about the plausibility of the excessive exposition to electronic screens as a trigger for the emergence of ASD, but also their effect in the gravity of the symptoms found and the potential of utilizing the time of exposition to screens as an early sign for autism. A search was conducted in the platforms National Library of Medicine (PubMed) and Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde Brasil (BVS), considering the descriptors "children", "autism" and "screen time". Include in this study were studies published between 2013 and 2023; in the languages Portuguese and English; of free access which were classified as: cohort studies; transversal studies; systematic review; prognostic studies; etiological studies; diagnostic studies; observational studies; qualitative studies; experimental studies; pré/post test quasi-experimental studies; quantitative research. Articles without clear information source and not from the theme of this study were excluded, resulting in the selection of 23 articles. After analysis it was observed that the exposition to electronic screens in children has ties to the emergence of symptoms similar to autism. In conclusion, it is important to analyze how factors in the daily life of families can affect the development of children so better conducts can be defined.