Harpal Singh1, Marry J. Tigga2, Sagarika Laad3, Nida Khan4
PURPOSE
To determine the prevalence of asthenopia and to identify modifiable risk factors in medical students. Therefore, as to provide with necessory instruction and precaution to reduce the occurrence of the ocular morbidity.
METHODS
A cross sectional observational study was conducted amongst 200 medical students who are using smart phone, laptop and computer to determine the relationship between asthenopia and related risk factors. Data were based on demographic features, type and duration of electronic items used and asthenopic symptoms was collected by self-administered questionnaire. The data was compiled and entered into excel sheet and analyzed by using appropriate statistical test. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS Version 20.
RESULTS
We found out of96% students, 51.56% had moderate asthenopic symptoms. Most of the students had more than one asthenopic symptoms, in which headache (56.77%) was found to be the most common symptom followed by eye strain (50.52%), blurring of vision (40.62%) and redness (23.95%). Those who were using electronic devices for4-10 hours, had more moderate to severe asthenopic symptoms about 85%. The ocular morbidity was found to be more among the smartphone users followed by laptops. There was association between ocular symptoms and type of electronic devices (χ2= 14.6, p < 0.006) and duration (χ2= 25.6, p<0.001) of its use.
CONCLUSION
With this study we can identify the modifiable risk factors and excess use of electronic devices, therefore we can guide the students to limit the risk factors so that we can reduce the ocular morbidity.
