Visual health and prevalence of dry eye syndrome among university students in Iraq and Jordan.

ABSTRACT

Dry eye syndrome (DES), is a multifactorial disease that affects the ocular surface and contributes to the ocular symptoms. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the general population and university students' health in different ways. The pandemic forced many people including university students around the world to use virtual platforms on their digital devices, such as computers and smartphones, to work from a distance. This study aimed to explore the visual health and prevalence of dry eye syndrome among university students in Iraq and Jordan. This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted in Iraq and Jordan using online questionnaire tool for the duration between November 2021 and January 2022. University students in Jordan and Iraq were invited to participate in this study and formed the study population. No restrictions on study level or field of study were applied. A previously developed and validated questionnaire tools were used in this study (National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire - 25 (VFQ-25) and the Women's Health Study Questionnaire (WHS), which was developed by Schaumberg et al.). A total of 1,431 university students were involved in this study (1,018 students from Iraq, 71.1%). Around one third the study participants (29.0%) reported that have been diagnosed by a clinician as having dry eye syndrome. Around15.3% of the total study participants reported that they feel their eyes are dry (not wet enough) and 17.3% reported that they feel their eyes are irritated. Based on Women's Health Study Questionnaire (WHS) criteria, a total of 479 participants (33.4%) are symptomatically diagnosed with DES. Students aged 27-29 years, those at their fifth year of study, and those who wear contact lenses are at higher risk of developing DYS compared to others. Dry eye syndrome is common health problem among university students. Further studies are required to identify other risk factors associated with DES. Future research should focus on identifying strategies that could help reduce the risk of developing DES as a result of the inevitability of long-term use of digital devices among many categories of society, including university students.