Impact of terrorism on health and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale Screening in medical students, Karachi, Pakistan

Objectives: To determine the association of terrorism with psychiatric morbidity by Hospital Anxiety Depression scale among medical students in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: The questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to March 2011 and comprised students of the Institute of Physical and Medical Rehabilitation and the Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. The study tool was a validated Hospital Anxiety Depression scale questionnaire. The data was analysed on SPSS 16. Factor analysis was performed to check which factors had the most influence.Results: Overall there were 1036 respondents. The impact of terrorism on physical, social and mental health was 40(3.9%), 178(17.2%) and 818 (79%) respectively. There was an association of terrorism in 980 (84.6%) respondents with psychiatric morbidity.Conclusion: There was an association of terrorism with psychiatric morbidity in majority of respondents. The significant risk factors were age, gender, physical, mental and social health and the desire to live in Pakistan.