Screening of dry eye disease in visual display terminal workers during occupational health examinations: The Moriguchi study

Abstract

253Motoko KAWASHIMA, et al.: Screening of dry eye in visual display terminal workers test are simple, noninvasive, and inexpensive methods for screening DED during occupational health examinations. (J Occup Health 2015; 57: 253-258) Key words: Dry eye disease, Occupational health examination, Ophthalmologists, Quality of life, Screening, Visual display terminal Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial condition causing ocular discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with potential damage to the ocular surface 1) . Occupational changes such as increased VDT use have raised its prevalence among office workers in Japan. For example, 10.1% of the men and 21.5% of the women in an epidemiological study of Japanese office workers using VDTs were clinically diagnosed with DED; severe symptoms were observed in 26.9% and 48.0% of the male and female subjects, respectively 2). VDT use is a remarkable risk factor for dry eye symptoms 2,3) . The daily duration of VDT use is linearly related to dry eye symptoms 4) . Prolonged use is associated with symptoms such as dryness, ocular fatigue, and visual difficulty, which are reported more often than musculoskeletal pain and mental stress 4) . However, current occupational health examinations for VDT users cover only some dry eye symptoms, and DED screening is not routinely performed 5) . Further, few reports of occupational health examinations focusing on DED have been published 6,7) . The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of DED among Japanese VDT workers and identify simple methods for screening DED during occupational health examinations. The participants completed questionnaires on dry eye and physical symptoms affecting QoL, and their ability to keep their eyes open for 10 seconds was tested for DED screening. They also underwent assessment of conjunctival and corneal vital staining with lissamine green and fluorescein, measurement of tear film breakup time, and Schirmer's test for DED diagnosis. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of the screening methods were assessed. Results: The DED group included 218 (definite, 14; probable, 204) participants. They had markedly high frequencies of 11 dry eye symptoms, especially ocular fatigue (OR, 17.1; 95% CI, 9.9 to 29.7) and dry sensation (OR, 8.2; 95% CI, 3.6 to 18.4), and were more often unable to keep their eyes open for 10 s. With either ocular fatigue or dry sensation as the cutoff criterion, the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value were 89.9, 66.9, and 79.7%, respectively. Conclusions: Approximately 60% of the VDT workers were diagnosed with DED on the basis of diverse eye symptoms affecting their ability to work. The dry eye symptom questionnaire and 10-s eye-opening

Investigation of Dry Eye Symptoms in Lecturers by Ocular Surface Disease Index

“…Yazici et al 16 reported that the incidence of dry eye among individuals who used VDTs for an average of 6.9 hours/day was 27.4%, while this rate was 15.4% among those used VDTs less than an hour per day. Similar to the studies by Kawashima et al 15 and Yazici et al 16 , the average duration of VDT use in our study was nearly 6 hours and 52.8% of participants had symptoms of dry eye. This result seems compatible with the studies in the literature.…”

“…A meta-analysis by Courtin et al 14 showed that the prevalence of dry eye among individuals who used video display terminals (VDTs) for long periods was between 9.5% and 87.5%, with a mean prevalence of 49.5%. In another study by Kawashima et al 15 , the prevalence of dry eye among workers using VDTs for an average of six hours a day was 60%. Yazici et al 16 reported that the incidence of dry eye among individuals who used VDTs for an average of 6.9 hours/day was 27.4%, while this rate was 15.4% among those used VDTs less than an hour per day.…”

Association between Dry Eye Disease and Psychological Stress among Paramedical Workers in Korea

“…Kawashima et al . 47 revealed that 60% of the workers using VDT had DED, which might cause a significant impairment of the productivity of the workers 48 . Prolonged VDT use may be associated with decreased blinking rates and increased tear evaporation, which can lead to tear film instability and hyperosmolarity, and eventually short break-up time type DED 6,48 .…”

Visual Fatigue Induced by Viewing a Tablet Computer with a High-resolution Display

“…Similarly, readers of electronic books with liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors also experienced marked visual fatigue [ 15 ]. In addition, dry eye syndrome is more common in those who work on computers and has been reported in up to 60% of individuals who work with video monitors [ 16 ]. This prevalence is very high when considering the prevalence of dry eye syndrome in the general population is approximately 10% [ 17 ].…”