The relationship between video display terminals (VDTs) usage and dermatologic manifestations : a cross sectional study

In this study, 600 office workers were chosen randomly from an organization in Tehran (Iran).The subjects were then divided into two groups based on their exposure to VDTs.306 workers were considered exposure negative (non VDT user) who worked less than 7 hours a week with VDTs. The remainders 294 were exposure-positive, who worked 7 hours or more with VDTs. The frequency of dermatologic manifestations was compared in these two groups.In the exposure-positive and exposure-negative groups, the frequency of these dermatologic manifestations were 27 and 5 respectively.After statistical analysis, a P.value of < 0.05 was obtained indicating a statistically significant difference between these two groups for dermatological manifestations.According to our study, there is a relationship between dermatologic manifestations on the face and exposure to VDTs.There is growing evidence that long term exposure to the types of unfavorable working conditions that have been observed among some VDTs users might have serious health consequences [1].Dermatological manifestations, especially on the face are one of these health outcomes [2].The most common manifestations among these patients are nonspecific erythema, acne rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, pruritus, burning sensation, and dry skin [3].The prevalence of these manifestations among VDTs users ranges from 8–10% in a series of descriptive studies to 13.5% in other reports [4].Radiation emissions from VDTs such as x-ray, ultraviolet, infrared are within acceptable levels and there is neither a connection between these radiations and health consequences, nor with any dermatological manifestations [4,5].As a whole, the exact cause of these facial manifestations of VDTs users is not clear, but physical conditions of the workplace such as dryness, occupational stress [6], electrostatic fields [7], and to a lesser extent, electromagnetic fields of VDTs can play a role [8,9].The relationship between working with VDTs and dermatological