Abstract
Introduction: Medical Student Syndrome is defined as development of fears and symptoms of an illness related to a disease which a medical student is studying at the time without actually having the disease. The study aimed to measure the prevalence of medical student syndrome, to assess students knowledge of MSS and to identify the association between possible related risk factors [gender, year of study, academic performance, smoking, family medical profession, personal and family psychiatric illness, repeating, addiction and Googling symptoms] and MSS prevalence and some other characteristics [e.g. strength and duration].
Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students at university of Khartoum, Sudan. A total of 333 students were selected via stratified proportionate simple random sampling. They completed an electronically disseminated non-standardized questionnaire. Frequencies were calculated via SPSS version 23 and Chi Square tests were done to identify the association between different risk factors and MSS..
Results: 357 medical students participated in this study. 71.1% of them were females. The prevalence of MSS was 62.2%. 3rd and 4th year students recorded the highest rates of prevalence among students. 53.5% of students knew about MSS. 44.1% of students with MSS thought that they had a real disease while experiencing the syndrome. Most of the students who experienced MSS [92.8%] had mild to moderate symptoms, mostly in the cardiovascular system. These symptoms lasted for minutes in the majority [45%]. 19.8% of students with MSS sought medical help. Regarding the risk factors associated with MSS, there is a significant difference associated with the following risk factors [ Sex P=0.008 , Family psychiatric history P=0.009, Googling Symptoms P=0.000 , being in the middle years of study P = 0.000 , being in clinical years P=0.014 , as the P value <0.05 ]..
Conclusions: There is a disparity between MSS prevalence and Knowledge. Some students seek medical help because of it so further efforts are needed to address it to decrease worries and load on the health facilities. Further research is needed to identify and confirm risk factors related to this syndrome.