Study Of Visual Disorders In Egyptian Computer Operators

The aim of the study was to evaluate the probable effects of exposure to electromagnetic waves radiated from visual display terminals on some of visual functions. 300 computer operators working in different institutes were selected randomly. They were asked to fill a pre-tested questionnaire (written in Arabic) after obtaining their verbal consent. Among them, one hundred fifty exposed to visual display terminals were selected for the clinical study (group I). The control group includes one hundred fifty participants (their age matched with group I) but working in a field that did not expose to visual display terminals (group II). All chosen individuals were not suffering from any apparent health problems or any apparent diseases that could affect their visual conditions. All exposed candidates were using a VDT of LCD type size 15 and 17 and larger. Data entry and analysis were done using the SPSS version 17.0 applying appropriate statistical methods. The results showed that among the 150 exposed studied subjects, high significant occurrence of dryness and high significant association between occurrence of asthenopia and background variables (working hours using computers) were observed. Exposed subjects showed that 92% complained of tired eyes and eye strain, 37.33% complained of dry or sore eyes, 68% complained of headache, 68% complained of blurred distant vision 45.33% complained of asthenopia and 89.33% complained of neck, shoulder and back aches. Meantime, the control group showed that 18% complained of tired eyes, 21.33% of dry eyes and 12.67% of neck, shoulder and back aches. It could be concluded that prevalence of computer vision syndrome was noted to be quite high among computer operators.