Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students of one private medical college

Abstract

Background: Data show that the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress is more among medical students compared to general population and thus proving that the community of the medical students is a vulnerable group or high-risk group, where we need to take adequate measures to counter this issue among this particular community. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among one of the private Medical college students. Materials and Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in a private medical college among 450 medical students of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year and interns and postgraduate (PG) students for 6 months. “Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21” which was already validated and standardized was used for the present study. “The internal consistency, i.e., Cronbach's alpha value was 0.87 that was suggestive of high reliability.” Data collection was done in batches for undergraduates and for interns and PGs, whenever they were free and available. Anonymity was maintained. Results: Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students was 58.2%, 68.7%, and 35.3%, respectively. The most common was moderate grade of depression (30.7%), severe anxiety (39.6%), and moderate stress (15.8%). After testing for associated factors with depression, anxiety, and stress, it was fond that only belonging to joint family type and being undergraduate were found to be significantly associated with high levels of stress (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical students was very high in this medical college. These results cannot be generalized to other medical students of other medical colleges but definitely reflect that medical students are depressed, anxious, and stressed.