Physical inactivity, prolonged sedentary behaviors, and use of visual display terminals as potential risk factors for...

This population-based, cross-sectional study was performed to assess the influence of life-style modalities, including physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and visual display terminal (VDT) use, on the prevalence of dry eye disease (DED).

The study included a total of 102,582 participants aged 40-74 years, from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study for the Next Generation, a large nationwide prospective ongoing Japanese cohort study. Logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the relationship of total and leisure-time physical activity, duration of sedentary behaviors, and VDT use (hours/day) with DED.

Among 47,346 men and 55,236 women, 25,234 (8315 males and 16,919 females) cases of DED were documented. Total physical activity was significantly related to decreased DED in both sexes; for the highest vs. lowest total physical activity quartiles, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for DED were 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-0.97; P_trend<0.03) and 0.91 (95% CI, 0.86-0.95; P_trend<0.001) for men and women, respectively. Conversely, prolonged sedentary behaviors and VDT use had significantly higher prevalence of DED in both sexes (P_trend<0.001). Notably, the favorable effect of total physical activity on decreased DED in women was more prevalent with prolonged VDT use (≥2 h/day) (P_interaction<0.01). In men, the duration of VDT use or sitting was a significant modifier of the inverse relationship between leisure-time physical activity and DED (P_interaction<0.05).

Physical inactivity, prolonged sedentary behaviors, and use of VDT were related to increased susceptibility to DED among middle-aged to older Japanese adults.