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Assessment of dry eye disease and convergence insufficiency symptoms in e-commerce workers using validated
Hamed Soltan Dehghan1, Athena Rafieepour, Samaneh Hosseinzadeh
1Department of Optometry, Rehabilitation Research Center, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Occupational Health, Health Promotion Research Center, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Significance:
This study highlights the significant symptom presence of dry eye disease (DED) (27%) and convergence insufficiency (CI) (34%) among e-commerce workers (14% had both), underscoring their unique ocular health risks from prolonged screen exposure. It emphasizes the need for targeted workplace interventions and optometric screening to safeguard the digital workforce's visual health.
Purpose:
To investigate the prevalence of DED and CI symptoms in e-commerce workers.
Methods:
One hundred fourteen e-commerce workers (out of 140 distributed links, response rate = 81%) were surveyed via the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS) questionnaires online in the Porsline surveyor. A total of 30 questions were assigned to each individual, comprising demographic, OSDI, and CISS questions, all in Persian. The survey was carried out online.
Results:
The mean age was 29.2 ± 7.2 years (range: 18-50), and 55% of participants were female. The mean OSDI score was 9.3 ± 5.2, and the mean CISS score was 18.4 ± 9.6. Among all participants, 31 individuals had an OSDI score greater than 12, indicating the presence of DED symptoms. In all of these cases, the severity was categorized as mild; no moderate or severe cases were observed. Additionally, 39 individuals among participants had CISS scores higher than 21, showing symptoms of CI. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of OSDI and CISS between males and females (p=0.54 and p=0.064, respectively). The results showed a significant positive correlation between daily hours of digital screen use and DED symptoms (p<0.001), as well as a significant correlation between CI and dry eye symptoms (p<0.001, 14% of the participants [n = 16]).
Conclusions:
E-commerce workers exhibit a notable prevalence of symptoms for both mild DED and CI, based on symptom survey results. Symptom scores from these surveys were highly correlated, suggesting that the symptoms of the two different conditions are similar and could be mistaken for one another.
