Stress, Anxiety and Depression among the Dental Students of University College of Medicine and Dentistry Lahore; Pakistan

Abstract

Background: Medical is a sensitive profession, needs dedication, hard work as well as good physical and mental health. The Initial years of undergraduate (medicine and dentistry) are tough, but comparatively work load on the student of dentistry is higher in the initial years. They study almost all subjects of basic sciences along with dental subjects in a limited period of time, which may increase the burden and leads to depression, anxiety and stress among students especially before final exam. Aim: To assess the stress, anxiety and depression level in dental students especially before exams. Study design: Descriptive Cross sectional study Place and duration of study: This study was conducted at University college of medicine and dentistry from September to November 2016. Method: A pre structured, valid and reliable questionnaire DASS 21 was used to access the depression, anxiety and stress in the students of the first and second year BDS. 77 students from first year and 75 students from second year BDS were enrolled. A Questionnaire was distributed among the BDS students three weeks before the final examination in university of Lahore. Results: Out of 152 students 129 students completed the questionnaire. The response rate was 84.9%. The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 31%, 41.9% and 12.5% respectively.First and second shows significant difference in depression and stress scores, both have the p-value < 0.05. Female students show depression (20%), anxiety (22.4%) and stress (6.6%), while male student’s has depression (10%), anxiety (14%) and stress (5.3%). Conclusion: The results showed that first year dental, medical students constitute a vulnerable group that has a high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity comprising of depression, stress and anxiety as compare to the second years dental students, similarly female are more prone to depression, stress and anxiety than males.