Immediate psychological responses during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic among Bangladeshi medical students

Safa, Farhana; Anjum, Afifa; Hossain, Sahadat; Islam Trisa, Tonima; Fatema Alam, Syeda; Abdur Rafi, Md.; Podder, Vivek; Nahar Koly, Kamrun; Tasnia Azad, Dewan; Uddin Ahmad, Wasi; Nury Nodi, Rhedeya; Ashraf, Fatema; Quamrul Akhter, S. M; Uddin Ahmed, Helal; Hasan, M.Tasdik

Background The most recent global pandemic of COVID-19 has been creating multidimensional damages, including a detrimental impact on the mental health status of individuals. Medical students, a vulnerable cross-section of the population, may have perceived a myriad of psychological stressors during this crisis in the background of their prevailing stressful academic pressure and preexisting higher psychological and mental health issue. Objective To determine the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms and to elucidate the psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Bangladeshi medical students. Method A cross-sectional study design was utilized to conduct this survey. The online survey including demographic questions, COVID-19 related questions, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; higher scores on the subscales indicate higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms), was completed by 425 Bangladeshi medical students. Collected data were statistically analyzed by using SPSS (version 25.0) software. Result The HADS anxiety subscale revealed that 65.9% of the medical students had different levels of anxiety, ranging from mild (27.3%), moderate (26.8%), and severe (11.8%). As per HADS depression subscale, 49.9% of the medical students had varying degrees of depressive symptoms, with 3.3% of the participants had suffered from severe depressive symptoms. Female students had a relatively more anxiety and depressive symptoms when compared with males. The students, who were severely tensed of getting infected by the virus, were at higher risk of suffering from anxiety (3.5-fold) and depressive (2.7-fold) symptoms, when compared with no/minimally stressed students. Besides, fear of getting assaulted or humiliated on the way to hospital or home, not to be able to give maximum concentration on study after COVID-19 pandemic, students’ present emotional status (agitation), had statistically significant higher risk of anxiety. Conclusion A substantial proportion of Bangladeshi medical students are experiencing pandemic-related adverse psychological impact. The poor mental health conditions of these vulnerable medical students pose important threat to their potential contribution in future health care. Thus, medical colleges and health authorities should focus on addressing their psychological needs and formulate effective strategies to ameliorate medical students’ mental health status, particularly during any infectious disease outbreak.