The Influence of Smartphone Screen Time on Acquired Premature Ejaculation: A Prospective Preliminary Study

Abstract

This prospective study is aimed at investigating the relationship between smartphone screen time and the intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) in patients with acquired PE and to contribute to the literature. Thirty patients who had been diagnosed with acquired PE in our clinic between March 2022 and May 2022 were included in the study. Carrying similar demographic characteristics to the patient group, a total of 30 healthy volunteers were included as the control group. Patients who were using Huawei or iPhone brand of smartphones and who had data of at least one week of screen time were included in the study. The data were collected from the applications on the phones. PE was evaluated using PEDT, the Turkish validation of which had been carried out. The patients and the controls also underwent the application of the Quality-of-Life Questionnaire-Short Form (SF-36), which has also been validated for Turkish. The patients and the controls were compared with regard to smartphone screen time, IELT, PEDT scores, and the SF-36 scores. The mean screen time was found to be statistically significantly higher in the PE group compared to that of controls ( 336 ± 137 min / day , 246 ± 76.4 min / day , respectively, p = 0.045 ). In the correlation analysis between the IELT and the PEDT scores of the patients, a significant negative correlation was found between the screen time and the IELT, and a significant positive correlation was found between the screen time and the mean PEDT scores ( p < 0.001 , p < 0.001 , respectively). Our results showed that smartphone screen time negatively affected the IELT values and PE severity in patients with acquired PE.