The changing patterns of drinking, illicit drug use, stress, anxiety and depression in dental students in a UK dental school: a longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective To investigate alcohol and illicit drug use in a cohort of dental undergraduates through to VT year. Setting A UK dental school (with a medical school comparison group). Subjects and methods A cohort of dental students anonymously completed a lifestyle questionnaire about drinking and smoking, illicit drug use, stress, anxiety and depression in the spring of 1995 and 1998 as second and final year undergraduate students respectively, and in the summer of 1999 after one year working as qualified dentists. A parallel cohort of medical students also anonymously completed the questionnaire at the same time points in their undergraduate course as for the dental students, and at the end of a year working as Pre-Registration House Officers (PRHOs). Results The proportion of dental students in Newcastle drinking above the recommended low risk limits of alcohol declined from 47% as second year students to 25% as final year students and then it increased to 41% as qualified dentists, whilst in medical students it steadily increased over the three time points of the survey (33% to 43% to 54%). A greater proportion of dental students were drinking at hazardous levels at all three time-points, compared with medical students. Experimentation with illicit drugs ranged from 47% as second year students to 54% as final year students and to 51% as dentists. The prevalence of illicit drug use in medical students was similar to that in dental students. Forty seven per cent of the dental student cohort as second year students, 67% as final year students and 16% as dentists suffered from possible pathological anxiety, compared with 47%, 26% and 30% in the medical student cohort. The proportion of dentists suffering from stress decreased from 72% as final year students to 19% as dentists. In the medical student group, the proportion increased from 32% as final year students to 39% as PRHOs. Conclusion This longitudinal study revealed that a high proportion of dental students from Newcastle continue to drink excessively and experiment with illicit drugs both as undergraduates and as practising

Burnout, depression and suicidal ideation in dental students

“…Lower prevalence of depression than reported in a longitudinal study by Newbury-Birch (13) on second- and fifth- year students was found in the present study. Like us, they found no differences between both years.…”

“…Little attention has been paid to depression among dental students. The results of studies conducted on clinical years ranged between 2.8 and 15%, and between 7.4 and 14% on preclinical years (9,13,14), using different instruments and cutoff values to screen for depression. Considering gender, the abovementioned authors reported that more female than male dental students showed positive results for depression in clinical and preclinical years, except for Takayama (2), who found no gender differences among students in preclinical years.…”

Occupational Stress and Coping Behaviours Among Dentists in Kerman, Iran

“…5,10,18,19 Previous studies have shown that dentistry can be a stressful occupation; 20,21 research on the sources of this stress may be able to assist early prevention and intervention initiatives. This study aimed to study sources of stress and strategies for managing stress among general dentists in Kerman.…”

Prevalence of alcohol use disorders among under- and post-graduate healthcare students in Italy

“…This problem may be linked to the type of activities undertaken by medical students, associated with the level of academic pressure, workload, and burnout [11–14]. Indeed, substance abuse, including over consumption of alcohol, is regarded a method of stress reduction among national and international medical students [15,16], and medical students have been reported to consume alcohol at levels exceeding the recommended guidelines [17,18]. …”