Association between Duration of Daily Visual Display Terminal Work and Sleep Disorders among Statistics Center Staff in Iran

Computers have become ubiquitous in the workplace offices and since computerized jobs aremore sedentary, requiring more cognitive processing, mental attention and less physical expenditure of energy,many jobs that require heavy computer use have been found to be stressful. Three hundred and sixty two clerks of national statistics centre of Iran participated in this analyticcross-sectional study. All the employees that had worked with computer during the previous three months wereenrolled. The subjects with diseases affecting the patient’s sleep were excluded. In addition to demographicvariables, for assessment of insomnia, we designed a questionnaire consisting of 20 items. Among 362 subjects, Male and female distribution was equal (Mean age: 35.27±8.48 years, range: 20-65 years). The most common degree was bachelor (40.6%). We couldn’t find any significant changes with respectto well-being during the day, final awakening earlier than desired, functioning during the day and with increasingthe hours of working with computer. An association was observed between the duration of daily visual display terminal work and each ofthe eight sleep-related symptoms on the AIS, such as difficulty in falling asleep and early awakening.