Shantanu Bhattacharjee1, Ipshita Aparajita Nanda2
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.
