A field study investigating the relationship between visual discomfort and the menstrual cycle in VDU workers

Reports of visual discomfort have been shown to vary over the menstrual cycle when women have worn an HMD to view a nauseogenic virtual environment. This paper reports the results of a field study investigating whether women performing intensive VDU work, at four telephone call centres, showed similar changes. Participants were each categorised into one of four groups: i) an experimental group (naturally cycling females, n = 59), ii) oral contraceptive users (n = 38), iii) postmenopausal women (n 21), and iv) men (n = 26). Visual discomfort was measured using a visual symptoms questionnaire completed at the beginning and end of the shift, twice a week for five weeks. Ratings of visual discomfort did not change over the menstrual cycle for the experimental group (p = 0.73), nor were there any differences between the experimental group and any of the control groups (p = 0.56).