A comparative study on depression, anxiety, and stress among medical and engineering college students in North-East India

Abstract

Introduction: Physiological stress among medical and engineering students is common as compared to other professional courses. Increased stress levels result in an increased prevalence of psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and suicide ideation. This study aimed to assess and compare the level of depression, anxiety, and stress among medical and engineering students in North-East India. Materials and Methods: This institution-based epidemiological study was conducted among undergraduate students in engineering and medical college (310 students from each college) of North-East India from January 2017 to December 2017. Participants were interviewed with Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-42 scale to assess the different grades of stress, anxiety, and depression. Data were entered and analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 16.0, and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Greater mean scores among medical students indicated that they had more depression, anxiety, and stress in comparison to engineering students (P < 0.05). Gender, education, socioeconomic status, permanent residence, satisfaction with academic performances, smoking, and alcohol intake were found to be significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and stress in students from both courses (P < 0.05). Conclusions: A vast majority of the students were suffering from mild to very severe grades of depression, anxiety, and stress which is a matter of concern. Early interventions are needed to reduce the development of this depression, anxiety, and stress among professional students in today's date.

Keywords

• anxiety
• depression
• medical and engineering students
• stress
• tripura