Caffeine Intake and Its Association with Mental Health Status among Pharmacy Students at UiTM Puncak Alam

@#Introduction: Caffeine is a psychoactive substance widely consumed over the past decades. The effect of caffeine can be either beneficial or harmful. It increases cognitive performances, including attention, alertness and concentration. However, high caffeine intake may also induce an anxiogenic effect, causing symptoms such as rapid heart rate, restlessness and nervousness. This study aimed to determine the association between caffeine intake and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression among undergraduate pharmacy students at UiTM Puncak Alam. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with stratified random convenience sampling. A total of 270 undergraduate pharmacy students in UiTM Puncak Alam, Selangor participated in this study. A set of questionnaires was distributed using the Google Form platform. Standard General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scoring were used to assess the level of anxiety and depression among the respondents, respectively. SPSS version 27.0 was used to analyse the data. Results: About 70.4% of the students consumed caffeine, while 29.6% of the students did not consume caffeine. No significant association was found between caffeine status and the mental health scoring of GAD-7 (χ2 =4.639, p=0.200) and PHQ-9 (χ2 =5.256, p=0.262). Conclusion: Non-daily consumption and a low dose of caffeine intake patterns are good practises to prevent the development of anxiety or depression conditions, although the associations were not significant. Public awareness on possible anxiogenic effect and mental related disorders due to caffeine consumption need to be initiated, as nowadays, the caffeine intake behaviour has become a trendy lifestyle among the young adults.

COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS AND TOBACCO USE AMONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN DHAKA, BANGLADESH

The current study was aimed to investigate the changes in tobacco usage and their correlations among students from a private university in Dhaka, Bangladesh, during the lockdown periods due to the COVID19 pandemic. It is designed as a cross-sectional study in which 572 students participated, among which 207 were smokers, in a self-administered online survey on Google Classrooms through Google forms. The socioeconomic characteristics of the participants, COVID-19, and tobacco use-related information were collected using a close-ended questionnaire. Participating students were asked if their tobacco consumption had changed during the COVID-19 lockdowns compared to before the pandemic. Among the smokers, 31.9% stated an increase in tobacco use in the extended lockdown periods imposed by the authorities to contain coronavirus infection and the rest had no change in such behavior. Tobacco intake in the form of cigarette smoking was substantially increased among the participants who thought the lockdown period was more stressful than preCOVID times (aOR = 5.767, 95% CI: 2.5-13.26, p < 0.001), participants whose caffeine intake increased (aOR = 3.524, 95% CI: 1.70-7.29, p < 0.002), participants who attended any social events during lockdowns (aOR = 2.720, 95% CI: 1.26-5.86, p p<0.012) and those who reported it was dif?cult to procure cigarettes during the lockdown periods (aOR = 2.932, 95% CI: 1.36- 6.32, p < 0.007). This study explored that stressful condition due to extended lockdowns, higher caffeine intake, and dif?culty in getting cigarettes were signi?cant elements for increased tobacco use among the selected students.

The Relationship of Caffeine Intake with Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Sleep in Korean Adolescents / 가정의학회지

BACKGROUND: In various studies in adults, caffeine may increase wakefulness and relieve pain, but caffeine overdose can cause many adverse serious effects on health. Caffeine intake has recently been increasing in adolescents. In spite of importance of caffeine effects on Korean adolescents, there are lack of scientific and systematic studies. The purpose of our study was to identify the relationship between caffeine consumption and effects on adolescents. METHODS: We performed study on 234 middle school students at one middle school in Daegu using a self-report questionnaire. We divided students to quartiles according to amount of caffeine intake. We used Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to evaluate the degree of depression and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to evaluate the degree of anxiety. We also used Insomnia Severity Scale (ISI) to evaluate the degree of insomnia and Global Assessment of Recent Stress (GARS) to evaluate the stress in students. We used logistic regression analysis to identify the relationship between caffeine consumption and effects. RESULTS: Higher caffeine intake was associated with higher weight, height, lower academic achievement, and higher score in BDI, BAI, ISI, and GARS (P for trend <0.005). Higher caffeine intake quartile was associated with greater odds of having significant depression (BDI ≥10, P for trend=0.011), and insomnia (ISI ≥8, P for trend=0.015) after adjustment for factors that can affect the psychological status. CONCLUSION: We found that caffeine intake is associated weight, height, academic achievement, and higher score in BDI, BAI, ISI, and GARS. Caffeine intake was positively associated with the severity of depression and the severity of insomnia among adolescents in Korean.

Relationships between job stress and caffeine intake in industrial workers / 한국영양학회지

PURPOSE: This study analyzed the degree of job stress and caffeine intake in workers in industrial positions in order to determine the relationships between job stress and caffeine intake. METHODS: For this purpose, this study conducted a survey targeting 361 blue collar workers working for K manufacturing company, Gwangju. RESULTS: The total score for job stress in subjects was 72.7 ± 6.8 points/100 points. According to job stress, subjects were categorized as follows: Q1 for the group who had the least stress; Q2 for the group who had little stress; Q3 for the group who had a lot of stress, and Q4 for the group who had the most stress. As for the effects of caffeine on health, 57.1% thought that caffeine is helpful and not harmful if taken properly while 17.3% responded that less caffeine consumption is better. Daily intake of caffeine according to stress was presented as: 172.0 ± 85.3 mg in Q1, 179.0 ± 83.7 mg in Q2, 187.9 ± 81.4 mg in Q3, and 214.2 ± 147.3 mg in Q4 (p < 0.05). The percentages of caffeine consumption compared to the daily safe limit in subjects were: 43.0 ± 21.3, 44.8 ± 20.9, 47.1 ± 20.4, and 53.6 ± 36.8% in Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, respectively (p < 0.05). Adverse effects such as nausea or vomiting from caffeine were most common in Q4 (p < 0.05) CONCLUSION: As a result, higher stress in blue collar workers working for K manufacturing company was associated with more caffeine consumption. Groups with a lot of stress (Q4) consumed approximately 50% of daily safe limit of caffeine. Considering the results above, this study suggests that further research on more precise caffeine intake and its effects is needed.

Survey of Caffeine Intake from Children's Favorite Foods

The daily caffeine intake from elementary school children's favorite foods was surveyed and evaluated. Children may respond to caffeine differently from adults because they have different physiological makeup and are functionally immature. Therefore, caffeine exposure may have more serious consequences for children than for adults, irrespective of sensitivity. Their preference, perception, and intake of caffeine from children's favorite foods were investigated by questionnaire for 355 children. The order of children's preference over foods containing caffeine was ice cream and ices, confectionary, milk and milk products, and soft beverage. The daily caffeine intake of children was estimated to range from 0.16 to 917.28 mg/day, with an average of 36.04 +/- 82.7 mg/day and 36.9 +/- 96.0 mg/day for boys and girls, respectively. The daily caffeine intake according to body weight was 1.08 +/- 2.23 mg/kg and 1.12 +/- 2.66 mg/kg for boys and girls, respectively. The percentage of acceptable daily intake (ADI) of caffeine was 43.4% for boys and 44.9% for girls. The sources of caffeine for boys and girls were soft beverage (18.3 mg and 16.1 mg), milk and milk products (8.9 mg and 8.5 mg), ice cream and ices (5.7 mg and 7.3 mg), chocolate (1.6 mg and 3.2 mg), and confectionery (1.6 mg and 1.8 mg).