Computer Vision Syndrome in Medical Students: Awareness, Prevalence and Risk Factors

Background: Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) is a common problem among students, with very little conducted research about it on Saudi users. The aim of this study was to determine the awareness, prevalence and risk factors of CVS among medical students at the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the students registered in the faculty of medicine at the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. Two hundred thirty-four students were asked to fill out a predesigned online questionnaire covering sociodemographic characters, frequency of using computers, the associated symptoms and the relieving strategies.

Results: The participation rate was 87.5% (n=196), of which males formed 78.1% (n=153) and females 21.9% (n=43). The age ranged from 18 to 27 years, with a mean ± SD of 21.3 ± 2.1. Participants spent variable hours using their computers with a mean ± SD of 5.1 ± 1.37. Most respondents experienced diverse symptoms (92.1%), including neck pain, headache, eye strain, redness of the eyes, dry eyes, backache and shoulder pain. Significant relationships were confirmed between the average time spent on computers daily, the onset of symptoms, the awareness of bad effects and the different symptoms encountered.

Conclusion: Symptoms of computer vision syndrome are widely distributed among medical students at the University of Bisha, especially headaches which might be misinterpreted. Students’ awareness is acceptable but needs more persuasion to relieve eye stress by taking short, frequent breaks.