ABSTRACT
Background: Medical education is recognized as stressful globally. COVID-19 pandemic is an additional source of anxiety to the medical students. Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the prevalence and to identify the factors associated with anxiety due to COVID-19 among undergraduate medical students in a teaching hospital of Kolkata, West Bengal. . Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted among 363 undergraduate medical students using the stratified random sampling of a medical college from June to July 2021. Data were collected using a predesigned, pretested, and structured online questionnaire, including "Coronavirus Anxiety Scale." Descriptive statistics were used to estimate the prevalence of anxiety. Pearson's Chi-square test was performed to find out the factors associated with anxiety due to COVID-19. Results: About 25.6% of the medical students were found to have anxiety due to COVID-19. About 28.9% of them reported COVID-19 infection in family in recent past and 11.0% had themselves tested positive. Nearly 20% reported loss of family members, relatives, and close friends due to COVID-19. The factors associated with anxiety due to pandemic were socioeconomic status, social stigma, sleep disturbances, history of COVID-19 in family, loss of job. and vaccination status of family members missing practical classes and exam-related anxiety. Conclusion: The study found that one-fourth of the medical students had anxiety due to COVID-19. Social stigma due to COVID-19 and loss of job of parents were the most significant predictors. It is recommended that targeted psychological and clinical interventions need to be taken to alleviate students' anxiety due to COVID.