A Pilot, Phase II, Observational, Case-Control, 1-Month Study on Asthenopia in Video Terminal Operators without Dry Eye: Contrast Sensitivity and Quality of Life before and after the Oral Consumption of a Fixed Combination of Zinc, L-Carnitine, Extract of Elderberry, Currant and Extract of Eleutherococcus

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of L-Carnitine, published as an observational study.

A single-center, phase II, observational, case-control, 1-month study in VDT workers without dry eye disease was carried out.

Demographics and number of actual hours at VDT/day were taken into account.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 30 subjects were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

A total of 30 Caucasian subjects adhered to the required inclusion criteria and completed the study; 15 subjects were treated (T) and 15 were controls (C).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized study.

Because people in this L-Carnitine study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

What Was Measured

All subjects underwent a complete ophthalmic examination, including assessment of contrast sensitivity, and completed the computer vision symptom scale questionnaire at baseline and one month later.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Asthenopia, Carnitine, Computer Terminals, Dry Eye Syndromes, Eleutherococcus, Plant Extracts and Ribes.

Author keywords: COVID-19, VDT, contrast sensitivity, diet, lifestyle and nutraceutics.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of L-Carnitine in 30 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2021 (Nutrients), a journal based in Switzerland.

More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, all human trials.