Comparative Evaluation of Depression, Anxiety and Quality of Life between Clinical and other than Clinical Branch Postgraduate Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Medical training has been reported to be stressful. Clinical branch residents were found to be more anxious when compared to other than clinical branch residents. Heavy workloads and long working hours usually contribute to stress, resulting in fatigue, depression, and anxiety. Aim: To compare depression, anxiety, and Quality of Life (QoL) between clinical and other than clinical branch postgraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. The data were collected from 150 residents through face-to-face interviews and by applying the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), and World Health Organisation Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). The data were analysed using International Business Machines (IBM) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics 23.0 software. Results: The present study found that the majority of residents were male 108 (72%), belonged to the Hindu religion (134, 89.33%), were unmarried (150, 83.33%), and resided in the hostel (118, 78.67%) during their residency tenure. The prevalence of depression among clinical branch residents was 52 (50.0%), and in other than clinical branch residents, it was 17 (36.96%) (p=0.633). The prevalence of anxiety among clinical branch residents was 65 (62.5%), and in other than clinical branch residents, it was 18 (39.14%) (p=0.002). QoL was better in other than clinical branch residents compared to clinical branch residents in physical health, social, and environmental domains (p<0.04). Conclusion: The study concluded that clinical branch residents were experiencing significantly higher levels of anxiety. Overall, the QoL of residents in other than clinical branches was better than their counterparts in clinical branches.