Abstract
Purpose
To estimate the prevalence of dry eye among video-terminal (VDT) users and to assess risk factors for dry eye in this population.
Study design
A single-centre, cross-sectional study was carried out on subjects employed as VDT workers and on a control group.
Methods
Demographic data, years spent working at a VDT, number of effective hours at VDT/day, number and hours of breaks/day were considered. All subjects underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and completed the Italian version of the computer vision symptom scale 17-item (CVSS17) questionnaire. Both groups were classified as definite, suspect and non-dry eye syndrome (DES).
Results
One-hundred and ninety four subjects completed the study; 70 (36.1%) of which represented the control group, and 124 (63.9%) represented the VDT group. Among VDT workers, 29 (23.4%) presented definite DES and 55 (44.4%) suspect DES, while among controls, only 2 (2.9%) presented definite DES and 37 (52.8%) suspect DES. In the univariate analysis, the DES group was older (p < 0.001), spent more time a day at VDT (p < 0.001), used VDT from more time (p < 0.001), instilled artificial tears (p = 0.031), and presented worst quality of life (p < 0.001). At the multivariate analysis, only age and time at VDT retained association with DES (OR 1.05; 95% CI 1.01–1.09; p = 0.01 and OR 1.57; 95% CI 1.07–2.02; p = 0.017, respectively).
Conclusions
The global increase of VDT workers is accompanied by a higher frequency of ocular complaints. Older subjects and people spending more than 4 h a day at VDT are at major risk to develop DES and should take precautions to prevent the onset of the disease.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nakaishi H, Yamada Y (1999) Abnormal tear dynamics and symptoms of eyestrain in operators of visual display terminals. Occup Environ Med 56:6–9
Sheedy J (2002) What’s in a name: “computer vision syndrome”? Optometry 73:399–402
Blehm CS, Vishnu S, Khattak A et al (2005) Computer vision syndrome: a review. Surv Ophthalmol 50:253–262
Craig JP, Nelson JD, Azar DT et al (2017) TFOS DEWS II report executive summary. Ocular Surf 15:802–812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtos.2017.08.003
Stapleton F, Alves M, Bunya VY et al (2017) TFOS DEWS II report epidemiology report. Ocular Surf 15:334–365
Moss SE, Klein R, Klein BE (2000) Prevalence of and risk factors for dry eye syndrome. Arch Ophthalmol 118:1264–1268
Tsubota K, Nakamori K (1993) Dry eyes and video display terminals. N Engl J Med 328:584
Wu H, Wang Y, Dong N et al (2014) Meibomiam gland dysfunction determines the severity of the dry eye conditions in visual display terminal workers. PLoS ONE 9:e105575
Gonzalez-Perez M, Susi R, Antona B, Barrio A, Gonzalez E (2014) The computer-vision symptom scale (CVSS17): development and initial validation. Investig Ophthalmol Vis Sci 55:4504–4511
Lemp MA, Bron AJ, Baudouin C, Benitez Del Castillo JM, Geffen D, Tauber J et al (2011) Tear osmolarity in the diagnosis and management of dry eye disease. Am J Ophthalmol 151:792–798
Peterson RC, Wolffsohn JS, Fowler CW (2006) Optimization of anterior eye fluorescein viewing. Am J Ophthalmol 142:572e5
Whitcher JP, Shiboski CH, Shiboski SC, Heidenreich AM, Kitagawa K, Zhang S et al (2010) A simplified quantitative method for assessing keratoconjunctivitis sicca from the Sjogren’s syndrome international registry. Am J Ophthalmol 149:405–415
Rossi G, Pasinetti GM, Scudeller L, Raimondi M et al (2013) Risk factors to develop ocular surface disease in treated glaucoma or ocular hypertension patients. Eur J Ophthalmol 23:296–302
Brewitt H, Sistani F (2001) Dry eye disease: the scale of the problem. Surv Ophthalmol 45:S199–S202
Randolph SA (2017) Computer vision syndrome. Workplace Health Saf 65:328
Munshi S, Varghese A, Dhar-Munshi S (2017) Computer vision syndrome-a common cause of unexplained visual symptoms in the modern era. Int J Clin Pract 71:e12962
Labetoulle M, Rolando M, Baudouin C, van Setten G (2016) Patients’ perception of DED and its relation with time to diagnosis and quality of life: an international and multilingual survey. Br J Ophthalmol. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjophthalmol-2016-309193
Nichols KK, Bacharach J, Holland E et al (2016) Impact of dry eye disease on work productivity, and patients’ satisfaction with over-the-counter dry eye treatments. Investig Ophthalmol Vis Sci 57:2975–2982
Uchino M, Uchino Y, Dogru M et al (2014) Dry eye disease and work productivity loss in visual display users: the Osaka study. Am J Ophthalmol 157:294–300
Courtin R, Pereira B, Naughton G et al (2016) Prevalence of dry eye disease in visual display terminal workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open 14(6):e009675
Kawashima M, Yamatsuji M, Yokoi N et al (2015) Screening of dry eye disease in visual display terminal workers during occupational health examinations: the Moriguchi study. J Occup Health 57:253–258
Uchino M, Yokoi N, Uchino Y et al (2013) Prevalence of dry eye disease and risk factors in visual display terminal users: the Osaka study. Am J Ophthalmol 156:759–766
Sullivan BD, Crews LA, Sonmez B et al (2012) Clinical utility of objective tests for dry eye disease: variability over time and implications for clinical trials and disease management. Cornea 31:1000–1008
Sriprasert I, Warren DW, Mircheff AK, Stanczyk FZ (2016) Dry eye in postmenopausal women: a hormonal disorder. Menopause 23:343–351
Shimazaki-Den S, Dogru M, Higa K, Shimazaki J (2013) Symptoms, visual function, and mucin expression of eyes with tear film instability. Cornea 32:1211–1218
Woodward AM, Senchyna M, Argueso P (2012) Differential contribution of hypertonic electrolytes to corneal epithelial dysfunction. Exp Eye Res 100:98–100
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Local Ethics Committee of the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation of Pavia) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rossi, G.C.M., Scudeller, L., Bettio, F. et al. Prevalence of dry eye in video display terminal users: a cross-sectional Caucasian study in Italy. Int Ophthalmol 39, 1315–1322 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-018-0947-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-018-0947-6