COMPARATIVE STUDY ASSESSING STRESS, DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY SCALES IN STUDENTS BELONGING TO DIFFERENT FIELDS OF EDUCATION AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH SALIVARY CORTISOL LEVELS.

Objectives: To identify the prevalence of stress, anxiety and depression in undergraduate students using DASS-21 questionnaire and salivary cortisol as a physiological biomarker. A total of 460 undergraduate students excluding interns were Material And Methods: part of the study. The students were divided into four equal groups, 115 students each from medical, dental, engineering and art courses. Depression, anxiety and stress were evaluated using DASS-21 scale. Salivary cortisol levels were assessed using ELISA kit. The data was analyzed using chi-square test. Results: A significant difference in the levels of depression, anxiety, stress based on the streams was observed (p = <0.001). No significant association of these levels was seen with cortisol levels, wherein higher percentage of medical students had abnormal levels of cortisol in comparison to other streams. Comparison of depression, anxiety, stress according to year of study did not reveal any significant difference (p = 0.137,0.462,0.066 respectively.) with regards to cortisol levels, higher percentage of second year subjects had abnormal levels, but a significant difference was not observed in comparison with other academic years (p=0.599). In the present study significantly abnorm Conclusion: al levels of cortisol levels were seen in the majority of subjects who had extreme and extremely severe levels of depression, anxiety, stress levels. Mental health is an important aspect of overall health and therefore addressing these conditions at this stage will have a positive impact in their career. Salivary cortisol levels can be used as adjuncts to questionnaires for routine screening to identify severe forms of this disease and provide selective care.