Prevalence of depression and its associated factors using Beck Depression Inventory among students of a medical college in Karnataka

Abstract

Background and Objective:Depression among medical students is an area of increasing concern worldwide. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of depression and its associated factors among medical students.Materials and Methods:A stratified random sample of 400 students was assessed using Beck Depression Inventory by investigators. Associations between depression and class of studying, social factors like alcohol use, drug addiction, family problems, family history of depression, and staying away from home were analyzed by univariate analysis.Results:The overall prevalence of depression was found to be 71.25%. Among those with depression, a majority (80%) had mild and moderate degree of depression. The study showed that 46.3% (132) of the depressed were females and 53.7% (153) were males. According to cut-off scores, 115 students (29.8%) scored as normal (0-9), 111 (27.8%) as mild (10-18), 117 (29.3%) as moderate (19-29), 30 (7.5%) as severe (30-40), and 27 (6.7%) as very severe (>40) depression. The prevalence of depression was comparatively less among 1st and 2nd year medical students (57% and 50%, respectively) and the difference between the grade of depression and year of studying was found to be significant (χ2=122, P<0.001). The prevalence was significantly more among those with family problems and family history of depression.Conclusion:Depression is highly prevalent among medical students in this area. Our findings point to the importance of broad screening and psychiatric counseling of this vulnerable population.

Antecedente de Ansiedade, Síndrome do Pânico ou Depressão e Análise do Impacto na Qualidade de Vida em Estudantes de Medicina

“…Diversos autores reportam que a prevalência de depressão em estudantes de Medicina está acima das estimativas de índices documentados na população em geral (Kumar, Jain, & Hegde, 2012;Roberts et al, 2001;Zoccolillo, Murphy, & Wetzel, 1986).…”

Association of psychiatric morbidity with quality of life among late adolescent girls: exploring the iceberg

“…However, if we consider the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescent age group which ranges from 10-19 years, with the available studies (both done in India and other countries) it is seen that the prevalence of overall psychiatric morbidity ranges from 6.7% to 31.2%. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] This difference in the prevalence can be attributed to the inherent nature of the psychiatric disorders, the existence of stigma due to which eliciting history becomes difficult, differences in diagnostic tools used, recall bias, differences in the definition that is used to define the cases and the differences in sampling methods. The difference can also be attributed to the varying age groups, and the inclusion of both sexes in most of the studies.…”

Depression and Alcohol Use in Undergraduate Medical Students in a Private Medical College

“…This is similar to a study by Kumar and Jain, which showed a higher prevalence of depression in males. [14] However, another study by Yadav, Gupta and Malhotra found contrasting results, wherein females had higher prevalence of depression than males. [15] Second year students had the highest prevalence of severe (31%) and extreme (33.3%) depression.…”