Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology

Print ISSN: 2395-1443

Online ISSN: 2395-1451

CODEN : IJCEKF

Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology (IJCEO) is open access, a peer-reviewed medical journal, published quarterly, online, and in print, by the Innovative Education and Scientific Research Foundation (IESRF) since 2015. To fulfil our aim of rapid dissemination of knowledge, we publish articles ‘Ahead of Print’ on acceptance. In addition, the journal allows free access (Open Access) to its content, which is likely to attract more readers and citations of articles published in IJCEO. Manuscripts must be prepared in more...

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Get Permission Sharma, Bharti, Bushra, Gupta, Kumar, Das, and Khan: Effect of long-term exposure of digital devices during the COVID-19 pandemic and on ocular health


Introduction

With time & the advent of technology, the usage of computers, laptops, tablets & smartphones has seen a steady increase in the past few years.1, 2 These digital devices require to be held at a distance that is intermediate between near and distance vision, thereby causing strain on the visual system designed for comfortable near & distance vision. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic & the worldwide lockdown has immediately followed by a drastic increase in the amount of time spent on these gadgets.3, 4, 5

According to the American Optometric Association, as little as >2 hours of continuous digital device usage per day is enough to develop an array of eye & vision-related problems & referred to as “digital eye strain”.4

Prolonged use of digital devices causes “computer vision syndrome”.6, 7, 1, 2, 8

Materials and Methods

This study is based on a quantitative, descriptive cross-sectional design with a semi-structured South Delhi population questionnaire. An online survey has been taken by the platform Google forms. Participants are considered from 08 years & too less than 50 years who use digital devices are included as any systemic illness and trauma, were excluded. More than 8 years of age participants were questioned with 16 questionnaires (Table 1) through a survey by online mode via social media platforms through the mail, Facebook, etc. the questions are designed to compare the effect of digital gadgets before and after a lockdown on participants of the South Delhi Population. As a result, questions give the status of Day-to-Day exposure to digital gadgets due to working from home during COVID 19. The responses are providing the level of knowledge about their digital gadget exposure. Participants’ information is taken confidentially with informed consent. Ethical approval has been taken by the Institutional ethical committee of Jamia Hamdard New Delhi before the study. The collected data has been studied with statistical analysis that has been done using Microsoft Excel and noted in percentile format by using SPSS software (Table 3). Participants above 8 years of age with normal health, have been taken into the study as Inclusion Criteria.

Table 1

Research questions

1.

Name

2.

Email Address

3.

Phone Number

4.

Gender

5.

Your Age.

6.

Myself (current designation)

7.

The main purpose of most the digital devices usages

8.

Total no. of hours of digital device usage (smartphone +laptop+ Monitor) per day BEFORE the lockdown was implemented.

9

Total no. of hours of digital device usage (smartphone +laptop+ desktop) per day during the lockdown was implemented.

10.

How often do you experience these symptoms?

11.

What is the severity of these symptoms?

12.

Has the frequency or intensity with which you experience these symptoms increased since the lockdown was started

13.

Are you using spectacles?

14.

Is your spectacle power increased during this pandemic

15.

If yes, then what's your previous power & present power of the spectacle. If no, then fill nil answer

16.

Are you feeling stressed or restless due to the prolonged use of digital devices?

Result

The survey has completed 156 subjects. In this study, Females participated more than males, with 58.3% (Figure 1). With 30.76%, the >50 age group was found to participate, and at 13-31 years of age, participation was found to be more with 60% (Figure 2). Most individuals use digital devices because of work from home with 44.2% (Figure 3). Before the lockdown, the duration of digital device usage is not there between 4 and 6 hrs but after the lockdown, due to working from home, it has been increased by 35% (Figure 4) as 52.9% of participants feel headaches due to prolonged use of digital devices (Figure 5). 72.3% of participants feel restless due to prolonged use of digital devices (Figure 8). As most of the participants are using spectacles, they seemed to change their spectacle power in COVID 19 with 83% (Figure 7).

Figure 1

Results for sex ratio

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/e6e8ec51-7753-4908-b832-4d081ec31d04-uimage.png

Figure 2

Results for age distribution

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/2c1a76fe-fbae-4376-9c64-2f7b653c0050-uimage.png

Figure 3

Results for the main purpose of digital device usage

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/67cc9bbe-6886-48aa-93b6-370a0b48b62d-uimage.png

Figure 4

Result for digital exposure before and during the lockdown

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/b0e73a4d-34e6-4bbd-8fd5-78a0c46f92ec-uimage.png

Figure 5

Results for ocular symptoms in percentile

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/0b8404f9-70da-4a9b-9ccb-7b3873f19d58-uimage.png

Figure 6

Result of using spectacle?

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/893b6814-a929-4777-a4f5-4ba35d041b0f-uimage.png

Figure 7

Result for change in spectacle?

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/7efbc790-aff9-452b-ac6d-16b57e344480-uimage.png

Figure 8

Results for feeling restless and stressed while prolonged use of digital devices

https://typeset-prod-media-server.s3.amazonaws.com/article_uploads/1280d44a-87e8-4fe2-a727-a816b96b59cb/image/6f6dfedf-4db6-4b09-a7f3-efef87c0db7f-uimage.png

 

Table 2

Questionnaire response rate n=156

Variables

N=156

Percentage

Age

<13 years

1

0.6%

13-30 years

103

60%

31-40 years

3

1.9%

41-50 years

4

2.6%

>50 years

48

30.76%

Gender

Males

56

41%

Females

99

58.3%

Others

1

0.7%

Occupation

Student

24

15.4%

Medical professional

18

11.5%

Non-medical professional

41

26.3%

Other

76

48.8%

Table 3

Variable

N=158

Percentage

The main purpose of digital devices usage

Education

20

12.8%

Work from home

69

44.2%

Lessiure/ entertainment

23

14.7%

All of the above

44

28.2%

Table 4

Duration of digital devices usages before the lockdown

<2 hours

16

10.3%

2-4 hours

32

20.6%

4-6 hours

-

-

6-9 hours

16

10.3%

10- 12 hours

18

11.6%

12- 14 hours

74

47.43%

Others

-

-

Duration of digital devices usages during the lockdown

<2 hours

-

-

2-4 hours

-

-

4-6 hours

55

35.25%

6-9 hours

14

9%

10- 12 hours

49

31.6%

12- 14 hours

21

31.5%

Others

17

11%

Table 5

Variables

N=156

Percentage

Decrease visual acuity

16

10.3%

Burning of eyes

59

38.1%

Color halos

07

4.5%

Difficulties in focusing the printing test

16

10.3%

Diplopia

0

3.8%

Dryness

42

27.1%

Excessive blink

9

5.8%

Ocular pain

33

21.3%

The feeling of a foreign body

9

5.8%

The feeling of sight got worsened

11

7.1%

Headache

82

52.9%

Eyelid become heavy

20

12.9%

Increase sensitivity to light

19

12.3%

Itching

35

17.4%

Redness

59

22.6%

Watering

22

38.1%

None of the above

26

14.2%

How often do you experience the symptoms?

Sometimes while using a digital device

46

29.7%

Always while using a digital device

34

21.9%

Never

-

-

Rare

-

-

Sometimes or rarely while using a digital device

49

31.6

What is the severity of the symptoms?

Relieved spontaneously after sometimes of digital devices usage

64

41%

Relieved only on sleep

60

38.5%

No experience

32

20.5%

Has the frequency or intensity with which you experience these symptoms increased since the lockdown was started?

Yes

117

75%

No

39

25%

Table 6

Variables

N= 156

Percentage

Are you using spectacles?

Yes

79

50.6%

No

77

49.4%

Is your spectacle’s power increased during the pandemic?

Yes

129

82.7%

No

27

17.3%

Are you feeling stressed or restless due to prolonged use of digital devices?

Yes

119

76.3%

No

37

23.7%

Are you feeling irritated due to the loss of internet connectivity?

Yes

111

71.2%

No

45

28.8%

Discussion

This study shows that most of the participants say that the reason for using digital devices is to work from home and says that they have and says that their spectacle power has been increased due to this by 82.7%. Most of the participants were females with 58%. A study done by Pratyusha Ganne concluded that the prevalence of eye strain was higher among students taking online classes compared to the general public (50.6% vs 33.2%).9 Our study found that 44.2% majority of participants had exposure to digital devices due to work from home, i.e. online digital exposure. The results of these studies discussed above show similarities with our current study which shows that many participants have to come in contact with digital devices due to online mode. In our study, 35.25% of the participants are found to have more digital exposure during the lockdown. Another study which was done by Balsam Alabdulkader also noted that 78% of participants reported more digital exposure during lockdown.3

Conclusion

It was discovered that before the lockdown the duration of digital device usage is not there between 4 to 6 hrs but during the lockdown, due to working from home it has increased and headache as an asymptomatic symptom is noticed more during prolonged use of digital devices in lockdown.

Source of Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

References

1 

S Akkaya T Atakan B Acikalin S Aksoy Y Ozkurt Effects of long-term computer use on eye drynessNorth Clin Istanb20185431922

2 

M Rosenfield Computer Vision syndrome aka. A review of ocular causes & potential treatmentOphthalmic Physiol Opt201131550215

3 

B Alabdulkader Effect of digital device use during COVID-19 on digital eye strainClin Exp Optom20211046698704

4 

Asthenopia, American association of ophthalmology (AAO), (online); Eyewikihttps://www.aao.org/eye-health/

5 

FA Bahkir SS Grandee Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on digital device-related ocular healthIndian J Ophthalmol20206811237883

6 

A Patil Bhavya S Chaudhury S Srivastava Eyeing computer vision syndrome: Awareness, knowledge, and its impact on sleep quality among medical studentsInd Psychiatry J20192816874

7 

M Rosenfield Computer vision syndrome (a.k.a. digital eye strain) Optom Pract2016171110

8 

S Yogesh S Abha S Priyanka Mobile usage and sleep patterns among medical studentsIndian J Physiol Pharmacol20145811003

9 

P Ganne S Najeeb G Chaitanya A Sharma NC Krishnappa Digital Eye Strain Epidemic amid COVID-19 Pandemic - A Cross-sectional SurveyOphthalmic Epidemiol202028428592



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Article type

Original Article


Article page

388-392


Authors Details

Komal Sharma*, Dipti Bharti, Danish Bushra, Shivani Gupta, Madishetti Naveen Kumar, Ghanshyam Das, Mohd Sadath Ali Khan


Article History

Received : 16-05-2022

Accepted : 24-05-2022


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