Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Anxiety Levels of Medical Students in Pakistan

Abstract

Covid-19 is a communicable infective disease and has been the major current health challenge since it emerged in China in late 2019. Although earlier data analyses of Dawei Wang etc. from 138 hospital of China had shown that its mortality rate is less than 5%, shown (4.3%), major concern is its widespread transmission. The Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected economics and the mental health of millions worldwide. Fear is the one of the psychological outcomes of pandemic, but the psychological impact of the pandemic was overshadowed by financial and economic impact, which are interrelated. Conducted through an online questionnaire, this study evaluates the anxiety level of medical students of Nishtar Medical University and Multan and Quaid-e-Azam Medical College (QAMC) Bahawalpur in southern Punjab of Pakistan by using fear Covid-19 scale. The research employs the fear scale developed by Ahorsu et al. based on unidimensional 7 items, 5-point Likert scale. This scale is a valid and reliable tool and has been used to assess the fear for Covid-19 in general population. This scale has been used internationally by many researchers to measure anxiety levels. The research correlated the socio demographic variables, such as age, sex, education level and living surroundings, with anxiety levels that would help to redesign curriculum for education and to plan programs to enhance the knowledge of medical students for preventive measures against Covid-19. 577 male and female students from 1st to 5th year of bachelor’s in medicine and bachelor’s in surgery (MBBS) with ages ranging from 17 to 25 years participated in this study.