Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Nov 28:15:1466026.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1466026. eCollection 2024.

Health anxiety during a global pandemic: a comparison of medical and non-medical students in Mashhad, Iran

Mahsa Nahidi  1 , Mohammad Reza Fayyazi Bordbar  1 , Hanieh Mohammadi  2 , Negar Morovatdar  3 , Maryam Emadzadeh  4 , Hassan Mirshafiei  2
Affiliations

Health anxiety during a global pandemic: a comparison of medical and non-medical students in Mashhad, Iran

Mahsa Nahidi et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health worldwide, especially among healthcare professionals, including medical students, who were more exposed to pandemic-related stressors. However, health anxiety within this vulnerable group remains understudied.

Objective: This study aimed to assess and compare health anxiety and COVID-19 anxiety between medical and non-medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify factors associated with these forms of anxiety.

Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited Iranian medical and non-medical students studying in Mashhad via convenience sampling using messaging apps. Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire on demographic and social factors, along with the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) and the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS), with higher scores reflecting greater symptom severity. Statistical analyses evaluated group differences, correlations between HAI and CDAS scores, and the influence of confounding variables.

Results: A total of 305 students participated, with 176 medical students (57.7%) and 129 non-medical students (42.3%). The majority (92.7%) reported mild COVID-19 anxiety, while 3.2% reported moderate and 0.98% reported severe COVID-19 anxiety. COVID-19 anxiety did not significantly differ between medical and non-medical students (P = 0.439). However, medical students reported significantly higher fear of illness consequences than non-medical students (P = 0.037), while no significant differences were found in susceptibility to disease (P = 0.299) or general health concern (P = 0.156). HAI and CDAS scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.30, P < 0.001). Based on logistic regression, Female gender (OR = 4.55, P = 0.002) was associated with susceptibility to health anxiety, while studying a non-medical major was associated with lower health anxiety (OR = 0.01, P < 0.001) and lower COVID-19 anxiety (OR = 0.05, P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Mild COVID-19 anxiety was prevalent among both medical and non-medical students, with comparable levels of health anxiety across the groups. These findings suggest the need for targeted mental health support among students during pandemic conditions.

Keywords: COVID-19; health anxiety; medical students; mental health; pandemic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

    1. Anxiety & Depression Association of America . (2023) Health Anxiety. Silver Spring, Maryland, USA:adaa.org. Available at: https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/health-anxiety.
    1. Lebel S, Mutsaers B, Tomei C, Leclair CS, Jones G, Petricone-Westwood D, et al. . Health anxiety and illness-related fears across diverse chronic illnesses: A systematic review on conceptualization, measurement, prevalence, course, and correlates. PloS One. (2020) 15:e0234124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234124 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Henningsen P. Management of somatic symptom disorder. Dialogues Clin Neurosci. (2018) 20:23–31. doi: 10.31887/DCNS.2018.20.1/phenningsen - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Newby JM, Hobbs MJ, Mahoney AE, Wong SK, Andrews G. DSM-5 illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder: Comorbidity, correlates, and overlap with DSM-IV hypochondriasis. J Psychosomatic Res. (2017) 101:31–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.07.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tyrer P. Recent advances in the understanding and treatment of health anxiety. Curr Psychiatry Rep. (2018) 20:49. doi: 10.1007/s11920-018-0912-0 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources