Association between time spent on smartphones and digital eye strain: a 1-year prospective observational study among Hong Kong children and adolescents
Association between time spent on smartphones and digital eye strain: a 1-year prospective observational study among Hong Kong children and adolescents
Prolonged electronic screen use can cause digital eye strain. It can be difficult to rectify due to increasing smartphone reliance, potentially leading to serious public health problems. To investigate the association between time spent on smartphones and digital eye strain (DES) among Hong Kong Chinese school-aged children. Of a total of 1,508 students (748 males, 49.6%) from 8 to 14 years old (mean age = 10.91 years, SD = 2.01) who provided valid data on DES, the 1,298 (86%) who completed the DES questionnaire at 1-year follow-up were included in the analysis. DES was measured using a 10-item scale, and the sum of the 10 dichotomised scores was used as the DES total score. The most commonly reported symptoms were eye fatigue (n = 804, 53.3%), blurred vision (changing from reading to distance viewing) (n = 586, 38.9%), and irritated or burning eyes (n = 516, 34.2%). The DES total scores at baseline and 1-year follow-up were 2.91 (SD = 2.90) and 3.20 (SD = 3.19), respectively. Linear regression controlling for demographic and socio-economic confounders showed that participants with baseline smartphone usage of 241 + min/d had a significantly higher baseline total DES score than those with baseline smartphone usage of 0–60 min/d (2.44 vs 3.21, P < 0.001), and participants with baseline smartphone usage of 181–240 min/d had a significantly higher 1-year follow-up total DES score than those with baseline smartphone usage of 0–60 min/d (2.80 vs 3.50, P = 0.003).
Adolescents, Blurred vision, Chinese, Digital eye strain, Eye fatigue, Longitudinal study, Schoolchildren, Smartphones
58428-58435
Chu, Geoffrey C. H.
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Chan, Lily Y. L.
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Do, Chi-wai
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Tse, Andy C. Y.
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Cheung, Teris
230558d0-9254-44ab-a7e5-aab6ad90e205
Szeto, Grace P. Y.
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So, Billy C. L.
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Lee, Regina L. T.
76f8a357-ae4e-4e60-9583-75e033aa9fe7
Lee, Paul H.
02620eab-ae7f-4a1c-bad1-8a50e7e48951
1 April 2023
Chu, Geoffrey C. H.
3aa7723e-de89-4221-aa20-c14ae3d241ed
Chan, Lily Y. L.
402e341b-9be2-4d0f-ba38-f4eed4f2489b
Do, Chi-wai
183ed574-1c06-4d50-b0c0-44ef24330d13
Tse, Andy C. Y.
e0d6b2be-a736-43ac-b03e-d2d58a56e114
Cheung, Teris
230558d0-9254-44ab-a7e5-aab6ad90e205
Szeto, Grace P. Y.
9e285ec0-522b-4581-bafa-6a6e79101982
So, Billy C. L.
c1241458-cc83-4be9-b36a-c4f441a6f3ef
Lee, Regina L. T.
76f8a357-ae4e-4e60-9583-75e033aa9fe7
Lee, Paul H.
02620eab-ae7f-4a1c-bad1-8a50e7e48951
Chu, Geoffrey C. H., Chan, Lily Y. L., Do, Chi-wai and Lee, Paul H.
,
et al.
(2023)
Association between time spent on smartphones and digital eye strain: a 1-year prospective observational study among Hong Kong children and adolescents.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30 (20), .
(doi:10.1007/s11356-023-26258-0).
Abstract
Prolonged electronic screen use can cause digital eye strain. It can be difficult to rectify due to increasing smartphone reliance, potentially leading to serious public health problems. To investigate the association between time spent on smartphones and digital eye strain (DES) among Hong Kong Chinese school-aged children. Of a total of 1,508 students (748 males, 49.6%) from 8 to 14 years old (mean age = 10.91 years, SD = 2.01) who provided valid data on DES, the 1,298 (86%) who completed the DES questionnaire at 1-year follow-up were included in the analysis. DES was measured using a 10-item scale, and the sum of the 10 dichotomised scores was used as the DES total score. The most commonly reported symptoms were eye fatigue (n = 804, 53.3%), blurred vision (changing from reading to distance viewing) (n = 586, 38.9%), and irritated or burning eyes (n = 516, 34.2%). The DES total scores at baseline and 1-year follow-up were 2.91 (SD = 2.90) and 3.20 (SD = 3.19), respectively. Linear regression controlling for demographic and socio-economic confounders showed that participants with baseline smartphone usage of 241 + min/d had a significantly higher baseline total DES score than those with baseline smartphone usage of 0–60 min/d (2.44 vs 3.21, P < 0.001), and participants with baseline smartphone usage of 181–240 min/d had a significantly higher 1-year follow-up total DES score than those with baseline smartphone usage of 0–60 min/d (2.80 vs 3.50, P = 0.003).
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 28 February 2023
Published date: 1 April 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
he Food and Health Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, provided financial support in the form of a grant from the Health and Medical Research Fund (Ref 13144041). The sponsor had no role in designing or conducting this research.
Funding Information:
The authors thank Dr Maureen Boost (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) for her language editing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
Keywords:
Adolescents, Blurred vision, Chinese, Digital eye strain, Eye fatigue, Longitudinal study, Schoolchildren, Smartphones
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Local EPrints ID: 479932
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479932
ISSN: 0944-1344
PURE UUID: 621be01a-1523-4f73-a165-b9e95600e3e7
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Date deposited: 28 Jul 2023 16:53
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:17
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Contributors
Author:
Geoffrey C. H. Chu
Author:
Lily Y. L. Chan
Author:
Chi-wai Do
Author:
Andy C. Y. Tse
Author:
Teris Cheung
Author:
Grace P. Y. Szeto
Author:
Billy C. L. So
Author:
Regina L. T. Lee
Author:
Paul H. Lee
Corporate Author: et al.
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