DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2021.v09i01.010

Pages: 54-59

Objective: To identify the prevalence and factors associated with depression among medical students. Method: This is an analytical cross-sectional study that was used to measure the prevalence of depression related factors among students in medical colleges in Dhaka. Study population consisted of medical students in medical college institutions at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dhaka Medical College, Mugda Medical College, Delta Medical College and Holy Cross Medical College and Hospital were selected as the study sites. The sites were selected purposely depending on the fulfillment of the criteria that all these are located in Dhaka, provide medical education and training at different levels and are accessible to the researchers. Study period was from August 2019 to December 2019. Questionnaire was coded before entering the data to the computer by the researcher. Results: The response rate was 86.11% and subjects comprised 162 (52.26%) male respondents and 148 (47.74%) female respondents with a mean age of 21.4 years. While 33.87% students (n=105) are 1St and 2"d year students, 39.35% students (n=122) students study in 3rd and 4th year, leaving 26.77% (n=83) students in the final year of their study. Among the respondents, 34.84% (n=108) students reside in hostels and 65.16% students (n=202) reside in their own house. The odds of female students developing depression is found to be 2.12(1/0.4741) times higher than their male counterparts when the other factors are adjusted (AOR 0.4741, p value 0.0162). There is also a significant association between sleep and depression (p value 0.0460) which suggests that the odds of those sleeping <8 hours per day having depression is 1.82(110.5491) times higher than those sleeping for more than 8 hours per day. Other factors did not show any significant association after adjustment. Conclusion: The prevalence of depression is quite high among medical students at undergraduate level in Bangladesh. Different factors like sex, academic year,..