Association of stress, anxiety and depression with the body mass index and the body image perception among medical students

Abstract

Introduction: Stress, anxiety, and depression are of high prevalence among all mental disorders. Their high prevalence among those students directly dealing with the public health, made us investigate the prevalence of these disorders and their related parameters such as the body mass index and body image perception among the medical students in Azad Medical University. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional – analytical study conducted on 148 medical students (51 male and 97 female; average age 19.51±1.03 years) of the Azad Medical Sciences University of Tehran in their 1st to 7th semesters in a period between December and June 2017.. The students were given a questionnaire encompassing demographic information, 21-folded depression, anxiety, and stress index (DASS-21), and the questionnaire of the body image perception; and the participants’ height and weight data were also collected. Results: 148 students filled in the questionnaires and 47%, 54% and 59.15% of them were diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, respectively. These percentages were not significantly different between the basic medicals and physiopathology course groups. But the stress rate was lower among the physiopathology course group members (p=0.026). Furthermore, the BMI rate was normal in 61.5% of the students of the basic medicals courses and 71.9% of those of physiopathology courses. However, only 25.3% of the students perceived a correct image of their body, and this can provide grounds for the outbreak of depression among those students. Conclusion: The present study revealed that the prevalence of depression, stress, and anxiety are high among medical students, and this makes them perceive an incorrect image of their body which should be studied. Therefore, regarding the results of this study, it is imperative to conduct more research on this group, so that the outcomes would be communicated with the relevant authorities and educational academies, in line with reducing the pressure on the students.