Quality of life of a patient with computer vision syndrome depending on the type of accommodative astenopia

Abstract

Purpose: a comparative assessment of the quality of life (QOL) of patients with symptoms of computer vision syndrome (CVS), depending on the type of accommodative asthenopia: habitual excessive accommodation stress (HEAS) and the asthenic form of accommodative asthenopia (AFAA). Material and methods. 60 patients aged 22–34 engaged in visually extensive work who had typical asthenopic complaints were examined. The main criterion for diagnosing the type of asthenopia was the coefficient of ciliary muscle microfluctuation, measured by objective accommodation on a Righton Speedy-I device (Japan). The patients were divided into two groups of 30 people each with similar age and sex distribution, corresponding to the two forms of asthenopia studied. The main method of QOL examination was the study of an innovative CVS-22 questionnaire filled in by the testees. Results. The comparative assessment of the overall test indicator revealed no significant differences between the examined groups of patients with HEAS (QOL = 40.2 ± 1.2 pts) and AFAA (QOL = 42.2 ± 1.0 pts), p > 0.05. For some of the complaints, certain differences were found, partly associated with the pathogenesis of HEAS and AFAA, however, they do not fully reflect the “specificity” of the main types of accommodative asthenopia. Conclusion. The results obtained indicate the absence of reliable subjective diagnostic criteria of CVS. The fact may be associated with a wide range of risk factors for the development of functional disorders of the body in general and the visual system in particular when the patients is engaged in activities requiring the use of electronic systems in information management.