Impact of Chronic Stress on Human Health among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

الملخص

Medical education is associated with considerable academic and psychosocial demands that may contribute to perceived stress among students. Persistent stress may negatively affect students’ psychological well-being, cognitive functioning, sleep, and academic performance. Assessing perceived stress and its associated factors is therefore important for identifying students who may benefit from appropriate support. This study was conducted to assess the level of perceived stress among medical students and to determine its association with selected demographic and lifestyle factors and stress-related psychological, cognitive, and physical symptoms. A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, Maaref International University, Tripoli, Libya. A total of 150 students were included. Perceived stress was assessed using the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and data on demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and psychological and physical symptoms were collected. Data were analysed using appropriate statistical tests, with a p-value < 0.05 considered statistically significant. The mean PSS-10 score was 17.69 ± 4.73. Most participants had moderate perceived stress (82.0%), while 17.3% had low stress and none had high stress. Higher perceived stress was significantly associated with all assessed psychological and cognitive symptoms, including anxiety or worry, low mood or sadness, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, and irritability (all p < 0.001). Among physical symptoms, fatigue or low energy showed the strongest positive correlation with PSS-10 scores (ρ = 0.549, p < 0.001), followed by muscle tension or pain, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, feeling of low immunity, and frequent infections or colds (p < 0.05). Palpitations (p = 0.056) and slow wound healing (p = 0.817) were not significantly correlated with PSS-10 scores. Regular exercise and sleep duration were significantly associated with perceived stress (p = 0.025 and p = 0.036, respectively), while no significant associations were found with sex (p = 0.243), academic year (p = 0.063), or smoking status (p = 0.063). Moderate perceived stress was common among the medical students studied, while high perceived stress was not observed. Perceived stress was significantly associated with physical activity and sleep duration and was accompanied by a range of psychological, cognitive, sleep-related, and physical symptoms.