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ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL ASTHENOPIA AND THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF VISUAL FATIGUE FOR VDT WORKERS

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL ASTHENOPIA AND THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF VISUAL FATIGUE FOR VDT WORKERS

https://doi.org/10.33573/ujoh2007.04.071

Ustinaviciene Ruta1, Januskevicius Vidmantas2

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL ASTHENOPIA AND THE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF VISUAL FATIGUE FOR VDT WORKERS

1Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

2 Department of Health Systems Research of Institute of Biomedical Research, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania

Full article (PDF), ENG

To evaluate the relationship of functional visual fatigue parameters with the symptoms of asthenopia, and to determine association between subjective and the objective indicators of eye fatigue. 404 office workers with and without VDT work were selected for the inclusion in the study. To evaluate visual fatigue was used questionnaire for subjective complaints and measurement of main ophtalmological indicators. Psychophysiological studies determine changes in the sensomotoric reactions during the working day and the working week; in addition to that, studies of the constancy of clear-unclear vision and the fluctuation of the clear and unclear vision periods were performed. Measurements of psychophysiological changes were taken over one week, three times per day, for five days in a row. The questionnaire data showed that 88.4% of all employees complained of various vision disorders. Our psychophysiological findings showed that during the second hall'of the working day, when general fatigue and asthenopia develops, ophthalmologic indications change: visual sensomotor reaction becomes slower, the duration of the periods of unclear vision increases, and the change of the periods of clear and unclear vision becomes faster. Changes in the ocular and psychophysiological functions before and at the end of the workday, as determined in our study, provide a good objective index ofVDT-induced «ocular» and central nervous system fatigue, can be used for intervention research.

Key words: Ergophtalmology, Visual fatigue, Occupational asthenopia, VDT work, Eye discomforts, Psychophysiology

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