Computer vision syndrome, musculo-skeletal and stress related problems among visual display terminal users in Nepal.

Thesis Report.

SUMMARY: The study was cross-sectional descriptive study based on Visual Display Terminal (VDT) users in office setting in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Nepal using semi structural self-administered questionnaire. The sample for the study was 319. The data was entered in database in EPI DATA and analyzed by using SPSS version 22. P value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The prevalence of occupational hazards among VDT users was found to be high with 84.4% and 80.7% of study population experiencing at least on visual and musculo-skeletal symptom respectively. 58.7% showed mild-moderate CVS symptoms while 41.3% showed severe CVS symptoms. Work related stress which was moderate-difficult to handle was present in 36.7% of study population. The mean computer usage per day was 7.91+-1.95 hours. Tired eye (63.3%) feeling of dry eye (57.8%), headache (56.9%) were the common visual symptoms of CVS reported. There was no association between visual symptoms of CVS, Musculo-skeletal symptoms and stress with gender. But there was association between visual symptoms of CVS with total computer use per day and distance between screen and eye. Using VDT screen for > 8hours (OR-2.57), improper distance between screen and eyes (OR-3.20), not using antiglare screen (OR-2.6), not using eye drop (OR-3.14), not wearing protective googles (OR-3.07) were found to be risk factor for developing CVS. The most common sites of musculo-skeletal pain were lower back(61.5%), neck (41.2%)and shoulder (39.4%). There was significant relation between musculoskeletal symptoms with Number of years working and hours/day in front of computer (p-value<0.05). Also, significant relation was found between work-related stress with Number of years working and hours/day in front of computer (p-value<0.05)