ArticlePloS one2023
Prevalence and associated factors for self-reported symptoms of dry eye among Thai school children during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of dry eye disease among children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2025Pooled it
- Preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Arabic 5-item dry eye questionnaire (DEQ-5) in a conflict-affected population in southern Palestine.Medical hypothesis, discovery & innovation ophthalmology journal · 2026Article
- Dry Eye Syndrome in Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Korean journal of ophthalmology : KJO · 2024Article
- Article
- Considerations of COVID-19 in Ophthalmology.Microorganisms · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeCOVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in digital screen time, which seemed to increase the prevalence of dry eye symptoms among the population with abnormally high digital screen usage hours. However, there are no reports of dry eye symptoms in school children with high digital usage hours. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the prevalence of dry eye symptoms and evaluate the associated factors among school children aged 12 to 18 years during the COVID-19 outbreak.
methodsMultistage cluster sampling was applied, and six sections of online questionnaires were distributed to selected respondents in November 2021. The odds ratio (OR) with confidence intervals (CIs) for the factors was calculated using binary logistic regression. All statistical significance was determined at p < 0.05.
resultsThe findings revealed that 62.5% of 603 students showed symptoms of dry eye (DEQ-5 score ≥ 6). Significant associated factors included being female (adjusted OR (aOR) 1.54; 95% CIs 1.05-2.25), higher-grade student (aOR 1.77; 95% CIs 1.23-2.57), digital screen time use (6 to < 12 hours: aOR 2.00; 95% CIs 1.12-3.57, ≥12 hours: aOR 2.54; 95% CIs 1.39-4.76), and perceived stress (aOR 1.12; 95% CIs 1.08-1.16). The Thai-Perceived Stress Scale-10 scores were positively correlated with the scores on the 5-item dry eye questionnaire (Spearman's r = 0.38, p-value < 0.01).
conclusionA high prevalence of dry eye symptoms might be common among school children during the COVID-19 outbreak. Significant risk factors include being female, being a higher-grade level student, prolonged use of digital screens, and perceived stress. However, contact lens use, smoking, and the most common digital device usage patterns were not found to be contributing factors.
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