Prevalence of Hypochondriasis Among Medical Students at King Saud University

Abstract

Objectives: The study aims was to measure the prevalence of hypochondriasis among medical students, King Saud University (KSU). Methodology:Cross-sectional study targeted 400 KSU medical students divided into eight subgroups according to their gender and academic level .350 of whom responded (87.5%). The questioner was designed by there search team based on DSM- IV criteria to cover most aspects of presentations of hypochondriasis. Only students who were diagnosed of having hypochondriasis by a medical doctor at time of the study were included in the prevalence measurement. Results: The overall prevalence of hypochondriasis among KSU medical students was 3.4%. The prevalence among male students was 2.9% while it was 3.8% among female students (p=0.678). The prevalence among basic-year students was 3.1% compared to 3.8% among clinical-year students (p=0.734). Conclusions and recommendations: The overall prevalence of hypochondriasis among medical students was 3.4%, but there was no significant difference based on gender or academic level of the students. We recommend further studies with larger sample size that include different medical colleges from different regions of Saudi Arabia.