British children who have smartphones or tablets are significantly more likely to get head lice than those who don’t, according to a study being presented at the British Association of Dermatologists’ Annual Conference in Liverpool. Despite past theories that selfies increase the transmission of lice, no conclusive evidence of this was discovered by the study.

The study, which was primarily researching the incidence of head lice amongst children in the UK, also found that previous estimates of the prevalence of head lice in British children may be conservative, although this could also reflect the longer period covered by the study. Previously it’s been thought that between two and eight per cent of school-aged children have head lice, however, this study found that 45 per cent of children had had headlice in the last five years, with girls with siblings who are aged 6–9 years most commonly affected.

Data was gathered on 202 children which found that 104 (51.5%) owned a smartphone or tablet; 82 (40.5%) were using a device for ‘selfies’. Taking regular selfies did increase risk, compared with not taking selfies, but not enough to draw conclusions. The study did not differentiate between individual and group selfies. Of the 98 children who did not own or use a smartphone or tablet, 29 (29.5%) experienced head lice compared to 65 of the 104 (62.5%) who did own or use a smartphone or tablet.

Matthew Gass of the British Association of Dermatologists said:

“Head lice are a pain to deal with, both for children and their parents. Speaking from experience, they are intractable misery bugs that take far more time and effort to remove than is reasonable. Not to mention the obligatory quarantine period that they necessitate. That’s why a better understanding of how these pests are transmitted is useful. Prevention is always better than a cure, particularly if the cure means wrenching your poor daughter’s hair with a fine-toothed nit comb, or relying on over-the-counter remedies that head lice are increasingly resistant to.

“We’re not saying that smartphones are causing children to get head lice, but that there is a link, so if there’s an outbreak at home or at school, consider how electronic devices might cause children to congregate, allowing head lice to spread.”

Dr Tess McPherson of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, one of the researchers, said:

“Compared to previous estimates of head lice incidence, our figures were much higher, showing that almost half of children have had them in the last five years, which may not come as a surprise to parents. We also noted that children with smartphones or tablets were more likely to get head lice, which is interesting but we can only guess that this is due to the way that young people gather around them, though there could be other reasons.

“Selfie culture gets its fair share of negative press so it’s worth noting that despite previous speculation it seems that selfies can’t specifically be blamed for helping the spread of head lice at this stage.”

-Ends-
Notes to editors:

For more information on head lice and treatments please see the BAD’s patient information leaflet.

If using this study, please ensure you mention that the study was released at the British Association of Dermatologists’ Annual Conference.

The conference will be held at the ACC Liverpool from July 4th to 6th and is attended by approximately 1,300 UK and international dermatologists.

For more information please contact the media team: comms@bad.org.uk. Website: www.bad.org.uk.

About us:
The British Association of Dermatologists is the central association of practising UK dermatologists. Our aim is to continually improve the treatment and understanding of skin disease. For further information about the charity, visit www.bad.org.uk

PA14 How common are head lice? Are smartphone/tablet devices to blame?

N. Hitchen, T. McPherson and D. Warnapala Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, U.K.

There is limited scientific data on current prevalence of head lice in the U.K., but it has been previously cited at between 2% and 8% in school-aged children. There has been evidence that links lower socioeconomic status, long hair and low frequency of washing to head lice infestation (Moosazadeh M, Afshari M, Keianian H et al. Prevalence of head lice infestation and its associated factors among primary school students in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Osong Public Health Res Perspect 2015; 6: 346–56; Falagas ME, Matthaious DK, Rafailidis PI et al. Worldwide prevalence of head lice. Emerg Infect Dis 2008; 14: 1493–4). It has been suggested that head lice prevalence is increasing worldwide. Additionally there is a theory that increasing use of portable devices such as smartphones and tablets has led to increased transmission of head lice. This study aims to investigate the current prevalence of head lice and identify possible factors associated with transmission. Questionnaires were given to all parents/guardians attending the paediatric outpatient department at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, over a 1-month period. Completion required information on all children in the household. Questions included information on sex, hair length, socioeconomic status, and smartphone or tablet ownership. Ninety two questionnaires were completed, which included data on 202 children. Of these, 91 (45%) had experienced head lice within the last 5 years, and girls with siblings aged 6–9 years were most commonly affected. Of the 202 children, 104 (51.5%) owned a smartphone or tablet; 82 (40.5%) were using a device for ‘selfies’, and 45 (54.8%) of those performing selfies experienced head lice. Of the 98 children who did not own or use a smartphone or tablet, 29 (29.5%) experienced head lice. Use of a smartphone significantly increased risk of head lice [risk ratio (RR) = 3.97, v2 = 12.02; P < 0.001]. Taking regular selfies did increase risk (RR = 1.76), compared with not taking selfies, but did not reach significance. The cohort we studied shows that head lice are common in this population and the prevalence is higher than that reported by other U.K. studies, which may reflect the longer time period. Those with a history of head lice were most commonly female and of younger age, although all ages were affected. Notably, over half the children owned a smartphone or tablet and this significantly increased their risk of having had head lice, which raises interesting questions about transmission.