Prevalence of depression, anxiety and their associated factors among medical students in Karachi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the prevalence of anxiety, depression and their associated risk factors among students of a public medical college in Karachi, Pakistan.

METHODS

A cross sectional study was done on the students of a public sector, who had spent more than six months in the medical college and had no physical or mental illness other than anxiety and depression. A self administered questionnaire was given out to students who were randomly selected from the list of names obtained from the college administration. Primary outcome was anxiety and depression which was defined as a cut of score 19 or above on AKUADS. Multivariable models were built and logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the factors independently associated with the primary.

RESULTS

The mean (SD) age of the students was 21.3 (1.88) years. Majority of the students were females. A very high prevalence of anxiety and depression (70%) was found among students. Students using substance abuse, having family history of depression and anxiety and those who had lost a relative in last 1 year were 2.66, 2.35, 3.4 times more likely to be depressed and suffered from anxiety, respectively.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that there are certain risk factors other than academic stressors which predispose a medical student to psychological morbidity such as anxiety and depression.