Status of eye health of the workers of visually demanding occupations in Bangladesh: Assessing the prevalence of the symptoms of Asthenopia and computer vision syndrome

Abstract

Visually demanding occupations are professions which involve extensive function of eyes. So workers of such professions are prone to conditions called asthenopia which is the medical term for eye fatigue. In addition, individuals who work on computer are vulnerable to a condition named computer vision syndrome which consists of asthenopic symptoms and extraocular symptoms, such as, pain in the limbs. The study was aimed to assess the overall condition of eye health of workers of such professions emphasizing on the prevalence of asthenopia and computer vision syndrome. Correlation of various factors with asthenopia and computer vision syndrome was evaluated. The survey was conducted on 287 workers of varied visually demanding professions: 32 computer operators, 18 weavers, 201 garment workers and 36 general tailors. 32.40% of the subjects were found to be asthenopic. Among the symptoms eye pain (5.38% severe, 1.08% moderate, 22.58% mild), headache (26.88% severe, 9.68% moderate, 20.43% mild) and blurry vision (6.45% severe, 4.30% moderate, 20.43% mild) was found to be prominent. This study provides the picture of a small fragment of the visually demanding workers of Bangladesh. In order to obtain a more comprehensive picture, a study on larger population and on more sorts of professions should be conducted.