Relationships between health status and working conditions and personalities among VDT workers

A total of 486 visual display terminal (VDT) workers were surveyed on their health status, working conditions, type A state, and depression state through questionnaires. They were also divided into three groups by self-assessment: technocentered (TC), technoanxious (TA), and neither (N). The weekly working hours and daily VDT operating hours of the type A group were longer than those of non-type A group. Type A subjects had more symptoms than non-type A subjects. The mean weekly working hours of depressive group was 61.3 hr, much longer than that of the others. The TC subjects worked daily with the VDT for longer hours than the other subjects. The TA subjects felt most dissatisfied with their computer training (TC, 47.4%; N, 64.5%; TA, 91.7%). Awkward VDT operators were more often in the TA group (36.1%) than in the others (TC, 3.8%; N, 10.5%). The TA subjects had a higher previous history of duodenal ulcer than the others (TA, 13.9%; N, 4.6%; TC, 3.8%).