Computer Vision Syndrome: Prevalence And Predictors Among College Staff And Students

Abstract

Introduction: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is a relatively new entity described asa symptomatic complex of various eye and vision related problems, resulting from prolonged computer use. It is caused by multiple factors which include ergonomic factors, individual responses and time spent by individual on computer. Objectives: 1) To study prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome in college staff and students in Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar. 2) To evaluate the factors attributing to Computer Vision Syndrome. Materials & Methods: The study was an interview based, cross sectional study. A pre-formed, semi-structured questionnaire was used for collection of information regarding socio-demographic data; ophthalmic and clinical examination. Detailed information was collected regarding duration, frequency and timing of computer use and various asthenopic symptoms. Data was analyzed by SPSS 21.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) using appropriate statistical tests to find the association of CVS with variables of computer usage. Results: A total of 456 subjects aged 18-67 years were studied with mean age 21.5 years. Number of computer users were 424 (93%) and non-users were 32 (7%).About 66.3% subjects using were suffering from aesthenopic symptoms during or after work on computer. A significant association was observed between asthenopic symptoms and duration and years of computer usage. About 42.5% of subjects are not taking any medical help or other intervention for the symptoms. Conclusion: General prevalence of CVS is high in the study population. The factors associated with the severity of CVS were the duration of usage and hours of usage per day. About half of the people don’t seek medical help