Anxiety and depression among medical undergraduate students and their sociodemographic correlates in Sikkim: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Background: Psychological morbidity in medical undergraduate students has always been reported from various countries across the globe. Studies which document this burden among medical students in India are very few. Aims and Objectives: The presence of depression and anxiety among medical undergraduate students was assessed using a previously validated and standardized instrument, hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and the associations with their sociodemographic and comorbidities were identified. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, a self-administered, pre-designed, pre-tested HADS was used to collect information on basic sociodemographic (age, gender, semester, and socioeconomic status) and comorbidities through a Google Forms. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Scores for each of the respondents over each of the subscales (depression and anxiety) were calculated as per the severity rating index. Results: The study showed that majority (77.4%) of the students did not feel that they were depressed which was found to be similar in both male and female students. However, about 50% of both male and female students were found to be suffering from either mild or moderate anxiety. The present study showed that there was no significant association between HADS score and socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics among medical undergraduate students. Conclusion: A substantial proportion of medical undergraduate students was found to be anxious and quite a lot of them were found to be suffering from mild to moderate depression, revealing a neglected area of the students’ psychology requiring urgent attention. Student counseling services need to be made available and accessible to curb this morbidity.