Prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder among Undergraduate Medical Students- A Cross Sectional Study from Tamil Nadu

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a disabling condition that hinders people from functioning at their full capacity. Medical profession itself is extremely stressful. When a medical student has obsessive compulsive disorder it could be very difficult for him/her to cope up with their professional life due to the hindrance inflicted by the obsessive and compulsive behavior. Very few studies have been done to establish the prevalence of obsessive compulsive disorder among medical professionals. This study aims at evaluating the prevalence of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder among medical students of a private medical college in Tamil Nadu. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 150 medical students, selected by convenient sampling technique from a private medical college in Kulasekharam, Kanniyakumari over a period of 2 months. The 10-item Yale Brown OCD scale (YBOCS) questionnaire was employed in this study. Informed consent was obtained from the participants after which they were given the questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis was done. 65.3% (n=98) of the study population had no OCD symptoms and 34.7% of the study population had OCD symptoms, among which 28% (n=42) had mild OCD symptoms. 3.3% (n=5) had moderate OCD symptoms, 3.3% (n=3.3%) had severe OCD symptoms. 13.3% (n=20) of the male had OCD symptoms and 21.3% (n=32) of the female had OCD symptoms. This study has established the prevalence of OCD symptoms among 150 medical students of a private medical college in Tamil Nadu to be 34.7% which is alarmingly high compared to studies conducted among general population.