Relationship between Visual Impairment and the Use of Electronic Devices in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Overuse of electronic gadgets has been highlighted as a possible preventable risk factor for eyesight loss. Excessive use of electronic gadgets, on the other hand, has been linked to vision impairment in a variety of ways.

Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study to spotlight on the relationship between visual impairment and addiction to electronic devices use. The study's goal was to see if there was a link between Saudis' vision impairment and their addiction to using electronic devices, this is the suitable design for this research. The study was carried out among Saudi population. Data were collected from general population using questionnaire during the period from 22 August to 22 November 2020.

Results: The study included the participation of 344 participants from both genders and different age groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There were 211 female participants (61.3%) and 133 males (38.7%) took place in this study. The most prevalent age group was under the age of 25 years (n= 111, 32.3%) followed by the age group 25-35 (n= 104, 30.2%) while the least frequent age group was above 45 years (n= 54, 15.7%). On asking the participants whether they think that they have vision impairment or not, their answers were as follows: yes (n= 156, 45.3%), no (n= 131, 38.1) and maybe (n= 57, 16.6%). Due to the use electronic devices, there were 107 participants complained of headache (31.1%). And this was significantly related to the number of hours spent by study participants using electronic devices (P= 0.002) as well as significant for female gender more than male gender (P= 0.03).

Conclusion: The study showed statistically significant relationship between the number of hours spent on using electronic devices and visual impairment among study participants especially among female population more than male population. There is a need for awareness campaigns to increase health awareness among population to cut down the use of electronic devices.