Risk factors, incidence and persistence of symptoms from the eyes among professional computer users

Symptoms from the eyes are common among computer users. Knowledge is scarce about these problems, however.

The aim was to study risk-factors, incidence and persistence of eye-symptoms among professionally active computer users.

This was a questionnaire based prospective study where 1283 males and females from different professions and companies answered a baseline questionnaire about individual factors and working conditions, e.g. duration of daily computer work, comfort of screen work, psychosocial factors. Subjects were at baseline and 10 follow-ups asked about the number of days with eye-symptoms during the preceding month.

The incidence-rate of symptoms persisting minimum three days was 0.38/person-year. A multivariate Hazard-ratio model showed significant associations with extended continuous computer work, tasks with high demands on eye-hand coordination, low level of control, visual discomfort, female sex and nicotine use. Eye-symptoms at baseline was a strong risk factor for new symptoms.

The incidence of eye-symptoms among professional computer users is high and related to both individual and work-related factors. The organization of computer work should secure frequent breaks from near-work at the computer screen. The severity of vision-related problems could in field studies be quantified by asking for the persistence of symptoms.