ABSTRACT
Objective:
To assess asthenopic symptoms and sociodemographic factors, behavioral and clinical aspects in college lecturers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study evaluating asthenopia in 104 lecturers. Some validated visual symptom questionnaires were adapted for data collection. Lecturers were compared regarding the occurrence or not of asthenopic symptoms, and binary logistic regression was applied to measure the association with independent variables (p<0.05).
Results:
Asthenopic symptoms occurred more often during the pandemic, when exposure to screens was a determinant factor. The individuals with screen time longer than five hours a day, who used screens for leisure, and who used eye drops/lubricants were significantly more likely to be in the group with asthenopic symptoms.
Conclusion:
A significant association was identified in occurrence of asthenopic symptoms and screen use during the pandemic period, especially in groups with longer screen time. The study draws attention to the eye health of college lecturers in distance learning, and the need for further research on this situation in different school environments.
Keywords:
Xerophthalmia; Diplopia; Distance learning; Screen time; Occupational stress; Eye manifestations; Faculty; COVID-19; Pandemics