Stress in medical students

Aim: to assess the level of stress and its pre-disposing factors in medical students.study design: descriptive cross-sectional study.place of study: lahore medical & dental college (lmdc),lahore.duration of study: four weeks in may,2014.results: among the study participants,58% were female,53% were either 22 years of age or older,23% were from 1styear,12% were from 2ndyear,17% were from 3rd year,26% were from 4th year and 22% were from final year. stress was present in all students,29% had mild,43% had moderate and 28% had severe stress. moderate to severe stress was more common in age group 18-21 years (76%) and first year students (82%). the top academic stressor was serious argument with instructor (100%),the main social stressor was death of a close family member (97%) and the significant personal stressor was sex problems (100%).methods: the student stress scale (sss) was administered among 342 mbbs students in all five years,by using convenience sampling. additional information on gender,age and year of study were obtained using a structured questionnaire. data was managed in spss 20. kruskal-wallis and chi square tests were used to analyze associations. the p value ≤0.05 was used as the cut off point for statistical significance.conclusion: medical students are under considerable stress. interventions are needed to tackle stress and improve their physical and psychological well-being.recommendations: early diagnosis,case finding and effective psychological services may possibly prevent and control future stress in medical students. © 2014 pakistan journal of medical and health sciences. all rights reserved.