National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 8│Issue 1│Jan 2017 Page 12 ORIGINAL ARTICLE pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 Open Access Article www.njcmindia.org Prevalence of Depression and its Associated Factors among Students of a Medical College in Western Rajasthan Neha Agrawal 1 , Savitri Sharma 2 , Rita Meena 3 , Sandeep Kumar Uppadhaya 4 , Manish Mittal 5 Financial Support: None declared Conflict of Interest: None declared Copy Right: The Journal retains the copyrights of this article. However, re- production of this article in the part or total in any form is permissible with due acknowledgement of the source. How to cite this article: Agrawal N, Sharma S, Meena R, Uppadhaya SK, Mittal M. Prevalence of Depression and its Associated Factors among Students of a Medical College in Western Rajasthan. Ntl J Community Med 2017; 8(1):12-16. Author’s Affiliation: 1 Asst Prof, Dept of Community Medi- cine, SIMS, Hapur; 2 Asst Prof, Dept of Community Medicine, Dr. S. N. Medi- cal College, Jodhpur; 3 Professor, Dept of Community Medicine, Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur, ; 4 Senior Resident, Dept of Community Medi- cine, AIIMS, Jodhpur; 5 Asst Prof, Dept of Community Medicine, Pacific Medi- cal College, Udaipur Correspondence: Dr. Neha Agrawal nehaagrawal.live@gmail.com Date of Submission: 05-08-16 Date of Acceptance: 01-01-17 Date of Publication: 31-01-17 ABSTRACT Introduction: Study of medicine along with being very prestig- ious, exciting, and challenging; is also very stressful. Getting into medical school has an impact on a student’s mental health because it requires adaptation and lifestyle changes. It is important to know the factors that influence students’ mental health during medical training to facilitate healthcare promotion and psycho- pedagogical support services. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on the medical students of Dr. S.N. Medical College, Jodhpur for a period of six months. Students were screened using BDI question- naire for assessment of depression. Data regarding their demo- graphic profile and their smoking and drinking habits if any was also collected. Responses obtained were analysed using Micro soft excel version 2010. For further statistical analysis SPSS version 16.0 was used. Results: A total of 815 students participated in the study. Preva- lence of smoking was found to be 15.46% and that of alcohol con- sumption 26.13% respectively. A large proportion of the students (44.42%) were found to be depressed. Conclusion: Stress was more common in the undergraduates. Gender, year of study, age, marital status were found to be signifi- cantly related to presence depression in the students. Key words: Medical students, Stress, Depression, Substance abuse INTRODUCTION Depression has become a common illness world- wide. According to WHO an estimated 350 million people worldwide are suffering from depression. 1 Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. 1 Suicide rates among young people have increased in the recent past to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk and is the second leading cause of death in 15-29 year old globally. 2 Death by suicide is a major oc- cupation hazard amongst physicians. Several mul- ti-institutional studies have observed that medical students have lower mental quality of life and thus, increased suicidal ideation. 3,4 This increased risk may begin during medical school. 5 The study of medicine along with being very pres- tigious, exciting, and challenging; is also very stressful. Depression, anxiety, and stress are seen to occur among medical students in high frequen- cy. 6-8 Medical professionals are in fact more prone to be affected as they faced with patients suffering and deaths on a regular basis and academic pres- sure, workload, sleep deprivation, student abuse,