Composite Anxiety-depression among Medical Undergraduates during COVID-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Fear and anxiety is a natural response during crisis. From constant worry of getting infected, death of loved ones, transitioning of lifestyle to loss of social connection; there can be several psychological triggers. The effect on mental health on the general population could be greater than those affected by the infection itself during the pandemic. Among medical students, who already have several other psychological afflictions, these triggers might be detrimental. Hence, this study aims to find out the prevalence of composite anxiety-depression among medical undergraduates in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical undergraduates in a tertiary care hospital from 20th December 2020 to 5th January 2021. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Review Committee. The sample size was calculated and convenient sampling was done. The data were entered in International Business Machines Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of 315 participants on the Patient Health Questionnaire-Anxiety and Depression Scale, severe composite anxiety-depression was seen in 10 (3.17%) at 95% Confidence Interval (1.23-5.1) participants, moderate in 35 (11.11%) at 95% Confidence Interval (7.63-14.58) and mild in 98 (31.11%) at 95% Confidence Interval (25.99-36.22). And 172 (54.6%) at 95% Confidence Interval (49.1-60) were normal. Conclusions: The rapid rise of apprehension among people amidst infectious outbreaks can ensue and medical students are no exception. So, at this time of crisis, there is a need to protect their mental health and it should be emphasized and endorsed.

Mental Health Problems and Educational Guidance of Medical Students After the Outbreak of COVID-19: A Meta-analysis

“…However, the full text of some studies was not available, the survey time of some studies did not meet our requirement, and some other studies did not have validated assessment tools. Ten articles (Xu 2021 [15], Guo 2021 [16], Adhikari 2021 [17], Chalise 2021 [18], Marcen-Roman 2021 [19], Mekhemar 2021 [20], Mishra 2021 [21], Natalia 2021 [22], Physiology 2020 [23], Soltan 2021 [24]) were finally included in the meta-analysis.…”

“…For the ten identified studies, five studies used the DASS-21 [20][21][22][23][24] to assess anxiety, stress, and depression symptom of medical students simultaneously. In the other five studies, two research teams used PHQ-ADS [18] and GADS [19] to investigate the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms respectively, within which one study used PSS-10-C [19] to assess stress symptom. One study in China used SSCS [15] to investigate stress symptom and SAS [15] to anxiety symptom.…”

“…Growing evidence supports a strong link between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. We could see the data from the WHO, which was updated on March 1, 2022, the situation of the pandemic varied by region and countries [1].…”