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PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS OF ILLNESS ANXIETY DISORDER AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS IN KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, SAUDI ARABIA, 2018

Dr. Ohood Adnan Adas, Dr. Ekram Abdulraheem Jalali, Dr. Abrar Nabel Fatani

Background: Illness anxiety Disorder is Highly prevalent among Medical Students and is associated with Functional impairment and psychosocial disability. Given the increasing prevalence of illness anxiety among medical students, it is imperative that we acquire ad¬equate knowledge on this important topic to prevent The Associated distress that may interfere with medical students’ studies and enhance the awareness of how it may represent a poorly recognized occupational disorder. Objectives: To identify the prevalence of illness anxiety and its determinants among medical students in King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, 2018. Subjects and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted including 300 participants randomly selected from All Medical students in the 4th, 5th, 6th academic years at King Abdulaziz University Medical college. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed. Illness anxiety was assessed using The Short Health Anxiety Inventory. Setting: College of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Main Results: Among the 300 participants, 15.2% of them had IAD. prevalence was higher among 4th year students [21.0%] compared to the 5th year [16.5%], and the 6th year [7.9%, p = 0.018]. In addition, the highest GPA scores [4.5-5] had a borderline significant association [p = 0.051] with IAD prevalence, with higher prevalence among those in high and low GPA categories, compared to those in medium GPA. Increased IAD prevalence was significantly associated with having a previous personal [27.8% versus 12.8%, p = 0.005] or family [40.0% versus 13.6%, p = 0.001] history of a mental health disorder. No other demographic variable was associated with IAD prevalence. Conclusion: Health-related anxiety in medical students is an unrecognized phenomenon in the Saudi academic community. since almost one in every seven medical students experienced illness anxiety symptoms in our sample in Jeddah, it is essential for medical schools to establish a screening scheme that would serve early detection of IAD and offer referral and psychiatric care for the students to prevent the resulting psychosocial disability and functional impairment. Keywords: Illness Anxiety disorder, Medical students, Anxiety, Medicine, Hypochondriasis.

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