An analytical cross-sectional study on the association between animal companionship and anxiety among students of a private medical school in Quezon City / The Health Sciences Journal

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#Constant stress predisposes medical students to anxiety. The study aimed to determine the association between animal companionship and anxiety among medical students at UERMMMCI.@*Methods@#The study utilized an analytical cross-sectional design via an online form with the anxiety portion of the HADS questionnaire. Participants included first to third year medical students of a private medical school.@*Results@#A total of 161 responses were recorded. Sex and year-level exhibited significant association with anxiety. Those with anxiety were 2.71 times more likely to be females (p = 0.007). Stratification showed that those with anxiety were 1.72 times less likely to be females with pets (p = 0.37) while, in contrast, those with anxiety were 3.64 times more likely (p = 0.02) to be males with pets. Those with anxiety were likely to belong to first and second-years (p = 0.01 and p = 0.06), respectively and pet owners, though, not statistically significant (p = 0.357).@*Conclusion@#An association between sex and year-level with anxiety was noted. Those with anxiety were likely to be females, first-years, and males with animal companionship. Although they did not reach statistical significance.