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. 2017 Nov 28;17(1):232.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-1083-0.

Prevalence of poor mental health among medical students in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Arjab Adhikari  1 , Aman Dutta  2 , Supriya Sapkota  2 , Abina Chapagain  2 , Anurag Aryal  3 , Amita Pradhan  2
Affiliations

Prevalence of poor mental health among medical students in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Arjab Adhikari et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Poor mental health among medical students is widely acknowledged. Studies on mental health among medical students of Nepal are lacking. Therefore, we conducted a study to determine the prevalence of mental disorders.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Nepal from December 2016 to February 2017. Our survey instrument consisted of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and questions about socio-demographic factors, smoking, marijuana use, suicidal ideation and thoughts of dropping out of medical school.

Results: The prevalence rates were 29.2% (95% CI, 24.4% - 34.3%) depression, 22.4% (95% CI, 18.0% - 26.9%) medium to highly severe somatic symptoms, 4.1% (95% CI, 2.0% - 6.2%) panic syndrome, 5.8% (95% CI, 3.4% - 8.3%) other anxiety syndrome, 5% (95% CI, 2.7% - 7.3%) binge eating disorder and 1.2% (95% CI, 0.0% - 2.3%) bulimia nervosa. Sixteen students [4.7% (95% CI, 2.4% - 6.9%)] seriously considered committing suicide while in medical school. Thirty-four students [9.9% (95% CI, 6.8% - 13.1%)] considered dropping out of medical school within the past month. About 15% (95% CI, 11.1% - 18.6%) of the students reported use of marijuana during medical school.

Conclusions: We found high prevalence of poor mental health among medical students of Nepal. Future studies are required to identify the factors associated with poor mental health.

Keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Dropping out; Eating disorder; Marijuana; Medical students; Mental health; Nepal; Somatic symptoms; Suicidal ideation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by Institutional Review Committee of KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital. Informed written consent was taken from participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Severity of depression
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence (percentage) of somatic symptoms among medical students
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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