Work/vision relationship in a preventive medicine context: Inital guidelines for a correct ergophthalmologic approach proposed by the Italian Group for the Study of Work/Vision Relationships. Part 1: Presentation

Modern technology poses numerous and complex problems concerning the implications for health in the work/vision relationship. While many of the hypotheses made in the past about the possibility of serious eye alterations in non-industrial workers have not been confirmed by recent investigations, considerable attention is at present being addressed to the short- and long-term effects of office work, especially in the case of tasks requiring prolonged visual effort 'at near point'. The prevalence of asthenopia in such workers is rather high, between 40 and 80%. The considerable aspecificity of the symptoms and the shortcomings in assessment of exposure in most of the research done so far has meant that no clear and unequivocable causal relationship between work involving intense visual effort and onset of asthenopia has been established. Nevertheless, from an analysis of the literature three main guidelines for a correct ergophthalmologic assessment can be identified: a) ophthalmologic assessments that will detect any transitory inefficiencies of the accomodation and convergence system; b) specific analysis of the technical and illumination conditions with special attention to the distribution of the natural and artificial light sources; c) quantification of airborne pollutants that have a potential irritative effect on the 'ocular surface'. Other environmental parameters that could be considered are electric and magnetic fields in the vicinity of VDTs and PCs and the microclimate of the workplace.