A study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of medical students

Background and Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed huge challenges on medical students and medical educators as they are the frontline workers in health-care management. The present study was conducted to evaluate and compare depression, anxiety, and stress levels and the Impact of Event Scale scores among different phases of undergraduate medical students. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted online at Burdwan Medical College after taking institutional ethical clearance and informed consent from participants. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) scores and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) scores of all phases of MBBS students were evaluated during the first and second waves of the pandemic. Jamovi software was used for statistical analysis and ANOVA was used to compare different groups. Results: There was no significant difference in the DASS-21 scores among all five groups during the first wave, but significant differences were observed in IES-R scores. On post hoc analysis, significant differences were observed in the Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal scores between 1st- and 5th-year, 2nd- and 5th-year, and 4th- and 5th-year students. During the second wave, significant differences in DASS-21 and IES-R parameters were observed between the different phases of MBBS students. There were significant positive correlations between IES-R scores and DASS-21 scores among 1st-year students and a significant negative correlation between IES-R scores and anxiety scores among 2nd-year students during the first evaluation. There were significant positive correlations between IES-R scores and DASS-21 scores among 1st-year students and a significant positive correlation between IES-R scores and stress scores among 5th-year students during the second evaluation. Conclusion: Senior batches of MBBS students were more mentally affected by the impact of the pandemic as evaluated by DASS-21 scores and IES-R scores. Levels of depression, stress, and anxiety were also increased during the second wave as compared to the first wave of the present pandemic.