A study on the correlaions between time of using VDT or sleeping time and dry eye in children

HUANG Hua; ZOU Wen-jin

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1001-9448.2018.05.012

Abstract：Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of dry eye in children and its correlation with the time of use of different video display terminals (VDT) and sleeping time. Methods Eighty-nine children (178 eyes) accordant to the adult dry eye diagnostic criteria were enrolled as the observation group. Thirty-eight children (76 eyes) with no eye symptoms were treated as control group. The tear film break-up time (BUT), corneal fluorescing staining (CFS), and Schirmer test I (SIT) were compared between the 2 groups. The times of using different VDTs (mobile phones, computers, televisions) and the sleep time were also compared. Results Among the 89 cases of dry eye, frequent blinking, itchy eyes, foreign body sensation and red eyes were presented in 51 cases (57. 3％), 29 cases (32. 6％), 15 cases (16. 9％) and 15 cases (16. 9％), respectively. The BUT value of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group (P ＜ 0. 05). The positive rate of CFS in the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P ＜ 0. 05). There was no significant difference in SIT between the two groups (P ＞ 0. 05). The average daily sleep time of the observation group was significantly lower than that of the control group; and the average daily use of computer time was significantly higher than that of the control group (P ＜ 0. 05). The longer daily use of computer was a risk factor of dry eye (OR = 1. 851, P ＜ 0. 05); and longer daily sleep duration was a protective factor from dry eye (OR = 0. 621, P ＜ 0. 05). Conclusion The use of computers may be a risk factor for dry eye in children, and sleep may be a protective factor.