Acute eye symptoms in schoolchildren and adolescents after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Objective To identify eye conditions associated to social distancing and related increase in screen time exposure on children and teenagers. Methods Observational, descriptive and analytical study, with a cross-section design, carried out between July and August 2021, by questionnaire survey. Results Headaches related to excessive screen time exposure were reported by 26.51% of the students surveyed, while 38.8% reported suspect convergence insufficiency. Regarding the questionnaire about dry eye, 18.8% were symptomatic and 7.5% reported hard-to-manage symptoms. Computers were the devices most used for schoolwork (71.5%), followed by cellphones on second place (66.3%). Symptomatic cases of dry eye were mostly reported by participants that did not make use of computers (36.4%). It was not possible to establish a connection between convergence insufficiency and device usage time. Those participants that reported more screen time exposure also reported an increased percentage of hard-to-manage symptoms (42.9%), regarding dry eye. Conclusion Dry eye and convergence insufficiency symptoms were more prevalent in the surveyed population.

摘要 研究目的：旨在识别与社交距离措施及由此导致的儿童青少年屏幕暴露时长增加相关的眼部病症。方法：本研究为观察性、描述性与分析性研究，采用横断面（cross-section）研究设计，于2021年7月至8月通过问卷调查开展。结果：26.51%的受访学生报告了与过度屏幕暴露相关的头痛症状，38.8%的学生报告疑似集合不足（convergence insufficiency）。针对干眼（dry eye）问卷的调研结果显示，18.8%的受试者存在干眼症状，7.5%的受试者报告症状难以控制。课业所用设备中，计算机占比最高（71.5%），其次为手机（66.3%）。未使用计算机的受试者中，干眼症状阳性者占比达36.4%。本研究未发现集合不足与设备使用时长之间存在关联。报告屏幕暴露时长更长的受试者，其干眼症状难以控制的比例更高（42.9%）。结论：本次受访人群中，干眼与集合不足症状的患病率较高。