Digital eye strain among undergraduate medical students: a cross-sectional study at a tertiary care centre

Background: Digital devices have become very important in education. Students are increasingly spending their time on screen for education and other use. However, prolonged screen exposure has led to increasing complaints of digital eye strain, an emerging public health concern. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 165 undergraduate medical students in a tertiary care centre. A pilot studied; semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and analysed. Results: The prevalence of digital eye strain among undergraduate medical students was found to be 52.7%. Most common symptom noted were Headache (68.5%), Itching (60.6%), tearing of eyes (58.1%). There was a significant association between the duration of mobile screen usage (>4 hours) and digital eye strain (p value=0.0303). Conclusions: Digital eye strain is a common health concern among medical students. Higher the hours of mobile screen use, greater is the risk of digital eye strain.