Dry Eye Disease and Work Productivity Loss in Visual Display Users: The Osaka Study – Accepted Manuscript

Abstract: Purpose: To estimate the impact of dry eye disease (DED) on work performance and productivity in office workers using visual display terminals (VDTs).Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: Six hundred and seventy-two Japanese young and middle-aged office workers using VDTs completed questionnaire which was designed to measured at-work performance deficits and productivity losses using the Japanese version of the Work Limitations Questionnaire, completed by e-mail. Using the Japanese dry eye diagnostic criteria, respondents were classified into three groups: definite DED, probable DED, and non-DED.Results: Of the 672 office workers, 553 subjects (82.3%) including 366 men and 187 women completed the questionnaire and underwent clinical evaluation. As for the total workplace productivity loss, the non-DED group demonstrated a loss of 3.56%, those with probable DED, a loss of 4.06%, and those with definite DED, a loss of 4.82%, indicating significantly worse performance and productivity (trend test p=0.014). For the four subscales, DED was associated with significantly lower on-the-job time management (trend test p=0.009) and mental performance/interpersonal functioning (trend test p=0.011). After controlling for age, gender, VDT working hours, and diagnosis of DED, time management, physical demands, and mental/interpersonal functioning, showed a significant relationship to DED (each p>0.05). Annual DED productivity losses were estimated to be $6,160 per employee when measured by total production and $ 1,178 per employee calculated by wage.Conclusions: This study indicates that there is a significant impact of DED on the total productivity of Japanese visual display terminal users.