ABSTRACT
Background: The undergraduate medical students have been reported to experience stress during their years in college and this stress has been shown to vary between clinical years and different ethnicities. As stress can lead to deterioration of performance and loss of self-esteem therefore the present study was conducted to evaluate the perceived level of stress in the first year medical students to identify psychological issues in the beginning of the year
Methods: Self administered General Health Questionnaire with 12 items [GHQ-12] was circulated after informed consent among the students present on the day of the study. The data was coded and entered in SPSS version 16. GHQ score was reported as frequencies and mean+ SD. Independent sample t-test was applied to compute relationship between gender and GHQ scores
Results: Total number of questionnaires completed was 101. The mean average GHQ- 12 score of all the students was 11.52+5.36, with a range of 01 to 28. Twelve students were found to be distressed while 7 students were experiencing psychological distress. The mean score of female students was significantly [p=0.02] higher than males
Conclusion: The first year medical students at UCMD perceive their mental health to be good. However there are some students who need special attention to perform well in their studies
ABSTRACT
This study was designed to establish the burden of head and neck cancers (HNCA) in public sector based cancer centres of Pakistan. Data were obtained from the central body governing all the cancer centres in the country. The frequency of treated HNCAs out of the total body cancers treated across Pakistan was found to be 14.5%. Highest prevalence rates amongst all cancers were noted in Sind, notably in Karachi and Jamshoro, followed by Multan in Punjab and a much lower frequency in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province. This variation presumably reflects levels of betel quid consumption but more data are needed to be gathered in a comprehensive way if the findings are to be applicable for improvement of the national cancer control program.