MJM, Vol 70 Supplement 1 September 2015
Prevalence and risk factors of depression
among preclinical medical students in a public university in Malaysia
*Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, **Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Aims: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression among preclinical medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Methods and Material: A cross-sectional study design was used. A questionnaire was distributed to the students which included questions on the demographic factors of the students, the PHQ-9 questionnaire which is used to measure depression scores and the MSSQ-20 questionnaire which was used to determine the risk factors that affect the students. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the prevalence of depression. Logistic regression was used to determine the associated factors.
Results: A total of 237 students were recruited in the study. There were 108 (45.6%) from year 1 and 129 (54.4%) from year 2. Females represented 70% of the sample and Malay race made 67% of the sample. Mean age of the respondents was 19.87 years with a standard deviation of 0.88 years ranging between 17 to 22 years. Majority of the sample lived in urban area (75%). Ninety five percent stayed at the hostel. Most of the respondents lived with friends (93%). Eighty three percent had a financial support (either full or partial) and 22 % of them reported that they were in love relationship. Prevalence of depression was 65.2%. Multiple logistic regression shows that academic related stressors was the main risk factor for depression in preclinical medical students of Universiti Putra Malaysia [adjusted OR 2.90, 95%C.I. = (1.95, 4.32), p value<0.001]
Conclusions: Academic related stressors were found to be the main factor of depression in preclinical medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Keywords: Prevalence, Risk factors, Depression, Malaysia, Medical Students, PHQ
