Self-Reported Student Awareness and Prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome During COVID-19 Pandemic at Al-Baha University

Abstract

Background:The rapid increase increased, in using of video display terminals during the COVID-19 pandemic predisposes users to a variety of health problems restricted to visual problems and including various musculoskeletal problems, collectively known as computer vision syndrome (CVS) or computer vision syndrome. Aim: This study aims to ascertain university students' awareness of computer vision syndrome at Al-Baha University, including the nature, sources, accuracy, and completeness of information, as well as the attitudes towards CVS, and mitigative practices. Methods: This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design and a convenient sample of 310 (80.0% male) students drawn from Al Baha University campuses. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Results:The mean age of the participants was 23.51 years (SD=5.42). The results show that 78.7%, 66.1%, and 11.6% received CVS information from social media, mass media, and family, respectfully. Despite 70% of respondents being aware of CVS manifestations, between 42% to 67% of those sampled had accurate and complete information about the meaning, causes, prevention, and management of the syndrome. More than a third of the participants had either a good (62.9%) or average (29%) total knowledge of CVS. Less than 15% had incorrect information. On average, 62.5% of respondents engaged in preventive or mitigative behaviours/activities as opposed to 37.5% who did not, but only 44% believed CVS was a serious health threat. 65.2% of the studied students had a satisfactory total practice score. The regression analysis showed that the coefficients of marital status and faculty were a statistically significant association with the total knowledge score. Conclusion: CVS awareness is acceptably high, but there is a low preventive/mitigative behaviors as well as a low realization of CVS' long-term health problems. This is why increasing CVS awareness and implementing interventions such as the 20-20-20 rule could be effective at

Letter to the Editor: “Self-Reported Student Awareness and Prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome During COVID-19 Pandemic at Al-Baha University” [Letter]

“…Finally, we are very grateful to Alatawi et al 1 for their interest in our study and congratulate them for their recent remarkable publication.…”

“…We have read with great interest the study by Alatawi et al 1 titled “Self-Reported Student Awareness and Prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome During COVID-19 Pandemic at Al-Baha University”. First, we congratulate Alatawi et al 1 for their study on the prevalence of computer vision syndrome (CVS) and totally agree with their outcomes and conclusions.…”

“…Second, in their Discussion section, Alatawi et al 1 mentioned that Iqbal et al 2 investigated 4030 medical students in five Egyptian Universities and revealed a great difference between CVS prevalence of 84.8% depending on the subjective self-assessment questionnaire and 56% prevalence depending on the objective ophthalmic examination which means that CVS self-assessment questionnaires might be misleading. We believe that subjective CVS questionnaires are actually overestimating the real CVS prevalence rates, while objective complete ophthalmic examination is really helpful in determining the real CVS prevalence.…”

Analysis of the Outcomes of the Screen-Time Reduction in Computer Vision Syndrome: A Cohort Comparative Study

“… 7–12 , 14–19 , 22 , 30 , 35–39 Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the average daily students’ requirements of total screen-hours for online learning and augmented the need for the educational mandated computer system use program. 9 , 28 , 30 , 33 , 35–39 Thus, we require more awareness campaigns to increase students’ awareness of CVS hazards and protective measures. 9 , 22 , 29 , 31 , 34 , 36 …”

Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops for College Students with Computer Vision Syndrome in Indonesia

“…Nearly 60 million people suffer from CVS and millions of new CVS cases appear each year (Sen & Richardson 2007, Alatawi et al 2022, Adane et al 2022. Worldwide CVS prevalence is estimated at 25%-93%.…”