Screen time exposure and reporting of headaches in young adults: A cross-sectional study

To examine: (1) how adolescent physical activity (PA) and screen-based media use (SBM) relate to physical and social health indicators, and (2) crossnational differences in these relationships. Essentially identical questions and methodologies were used in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children cross-sectional surveys of nationally representative samples of American (N = 14,818) and Canadian (N = 7266) students in grades 6 to 10. Items included questions about frequency of PA, SBM, positive health indicators (health status, self-image, quality of life, and quality of family and peer relationships), and negative health indicators (health complaints, physical aggression, smoking, drinking, and marijuana use). In regression analyses controlling for age and gender, positive health indicators were uniformly positively related to PA while two negative health indicators were negatively related to PA. However, PA was positively related to physical aggression. The pattern for SBM was generally the opposite; SBM was negatively related to most positive health indices and positively related to several of the negative health indicators. The notable exception was that SBM was positively related to the quality of peer relationships. Although there were crossnational differences in the strength of some relationships, these patterns were essentially replicated in both countries. Surveys of nationally representative samples of youth in two countries provide evidence of positive physical and social concomitants of PA and negative concomitants of SBM. These findings suggest potential positive consequences of increasing PA and decreasing SBM in adolescents and provide further justification for such efforts.

Background: The extensive use of computers as medium of teaching and learning in universities necessitates introspection into the extent of computer related health disorders among student population. Aim: This study was undertaken to assess the pattern of computer usage and related visual problems, among University students in Ajman, United Arab Emirates. Materials and Methods: A total of 500 Students studying in Gulf Medical University, Ajman and Ajman University of Science and Technology were recruited into this study. Demographic characteristics, pattern of usage of computers and associated visual symptoms were recorded in a validated self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to determine the significance of the observed differences between the variables. The level of statistical significance was at P < 0.05. The crude odds ratio (OR) was determined using simple binary logistic regression and adjusted OR was calculated using the multiple logistic regression. Results: The mean age of participants was 20.4 (3.2) years. The analysis of racial data reveals that 50% (236/471) students were from Middle East, 32% (151/471) from other parts of Asia, 11% (52/471) from Africa, 4% (19/471) from America and 3% (14/471) from Europe. The most common visual problems reported among computer users were headache - 53.3% (251/471), burning sensation in the eyes - 54.8% (258/471) and tired eyes - 48% (226/471). Female students were found to be at a higher risk. Nearly 72% of students reported frequent interruption of computer work. Headache caused interruption of work in 43.85% (110/168) of the students while tired eyes caused interruption of work in 43.5% (98/168) of the students. When the screen was viewed at distance more than 50 cm, the prevalence of headaches decreased by 38% (50-100 cm – OR: 0.62, 95% of the confidence interval [CI]: 0.42-0.92). Prevalence of tired eyes increased by 89% when screen filters were not used (OR: 1.894, 95% CI: 1.065-3.368). Conclusion: High prevalence of vision related problems was noted among university students. Sustained periods of close screen work without screen filters were found to be associated with occurrence of the symptoms and increased interruptions of work of the students. There is a need to increase the ergonomic awareness among students and corrective measures need to be implemented to reduce the impact of computer related vision problems.

The predominance of certain triggers for migraine was assessed in 494 migraine patients. Stress (62%) was the most frequently cited precipitant. Weather changes (43%), missing a meal (40%), and bright sunlight (38%) were also prominent factors. Sexual activity (5%) was the precipitant cited by the least number of patients. Significant differences were found between men and women in their responses to weather changes, perfumes, cigarette smoke, missing a meal, and sexual activity. Spring was cited by 14% of patients as a time for increased migraine attacks, followed by fall (13%), summer (11%), and winter (7%).