English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Computer has become an indispensable tool in the modern system of education and training. Health hazard viz. computer vision syndrome (CVS) associated with overuse of computer has been widely studied by different authors. Few studies have underscored the high prevalence of this condition among medical students. Present study has been conducted to find the prevalence of CVS, associated risk factors and to understand the level of awareness about the condition among undergraduate medical students during a period of exclusive online computerbased lecture classes. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 310 respondents among undergraduate medical students at IQ City Medical College, Durgapur, West Bengal from June 2020 to September 2020. The students were surveyed with pretested and structured questionnaire for various CVS related symptoms and ergonomic principles adopted by them. Data was collected and analysed. Chisquare test was performed to assess the statistical significance. RESULTS Prevalence of CVS in the study was found to be 58.38 %. Majority of students affected were females (69.5 %). Those using the computer for 2 – 4 hours a day were affected the most (66.5 %). The ergonomic factors that were found to have strong association with CVS were viz. prolonged and continuous use of digital screen, viewing distance, level of the digital screen with respect to eyes and chair support to lower back. The most disturbing symptom following continuous computer use was found to be headache (18.38 %), followed by eye strain (13.87 %). CONCLUSIONS The present study was conducted at a period when computer dependency among the students was high. Though some of the earlier studies have reported much higher prevalence of CVS among students, the present study has revealed a prevalence of 58.38 %. This was possibly due to high level of awareness (78.06 %) among medical students as revealed by the study. The study has also showed statistical significance between various ergonomic factors and development of CVS. KEYWORDS Computer Vision Syndrome, Ergonomics, Undergraduate Medical Students, Awareness