Health complaints among office employees exposed to video display terminals [VDT]

ABSTRACT

In order to study effects of use of VDT on the health of exposed workers, subjective symptoms and discomfort were evaluated by means of a questionnaire and compared between 366 video display terminal [VDT] operators and 112 controls. In addition, previous and current illness and educational status were also studied. Correlation regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between duration of exposure to VDT and occurrence and magnitude of various system discomfort scores. The results showed that VDT operators have significantly more eye discomfort and also more musculoskeletal discomfort in the neck, shoulder, h and s and back. They reported also more headache and skin disorders compared with the control group. Significant correlation relationships were found between eye discomfort, musculoskeletal discomfort, and headache in the subjects. The degree of the discomfort was significantly related to total daily work hours and duration of exposure to VDT in years. The latter relationships were independent of enterprises, the types of work and the make of VDT