Abstract

The pandemic affected the education of the children and thus online classes
were initiated using digital devices, which resulted in excessive use of digital devices. The
present study was therefore conducted at a tertiary care center to determine the burden and severity of Digital strain syndrome among children attending online classes during the
pandemic.
Methodology- This study was conducted as an online survey-based cross-sectional study on
children studying in higher secondary school belonging to the age group of 12 to 16 years
attending online classes in Bhopal India. during the pandemic. Using a standard
questionnaire, the prevalence and severity of DES were assessed. Results- The mean age of
children was 15.82±3.93 years. DES was present in 139 (53.9%) children. The most common symptom was headache followed by itching in the eyes. The majority of children had mild DES (37.2%), whereas 13.2% and 3.5% of children had moderate and severe DES respectively. Conclusions- We reported a much higher prevalence of DES during the COVID era, which was due to an increase in the time spent on digital devices for online classes. As the education of children is essential, it should be a continuous process. A concentrated effort must be done to increase awareness regarding DES due to digital device usage and e-learning technologies