Prevalence of Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD) and Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) among Medical and Non Medical Students: A Cross Sectional Study

The American Psychiatric Association has replaced the concept hypochondriasis with two new categories, Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD) and Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD), based on updated DSMV criteria.

It was plagued by imprecise definitions and was unreliable with DSM IV criteria, as it had been previously.

Hypochondriasis has two key components: disease phobia and disease conviction. The person is frequently searching for disease information and is under a great deal of discomfort and anxiety.

These hypochondriac traits are common among medical students.

Methods: The study targeted 1175 students of which 393 from medical background and 792 was from Science University. Students were provided with self assessment questionnaire based on HAI (Health anxiety Inventory). Statistical analysis was done on observation on Anxiety index by using Chi – square on statistical software SPSS Version 22.

Results: Medical students had a slightly higher prevalence of IAD and SSD, as well as a higher level of disease phobia, than non-medical students, due to the fact that they must deal with disease characteristics throughout their lives and must read about it.

Conclusion: The overall prevalence of SSD and IAD among students was determined to be 3.28 %.

However, a more defined method is required for classification using DSM V criteria.

This is due to a categorised and unclear assessment of patients' symptomatic behaviour due to co morbidity. It suggests that a large sample size be used to determine prevalence in the general population, as well as the demographic parameters that influence the results, with more exact categorization to eliminate co morbidity and a better approach for identifying patients.