Association between Smoking and Undiagnosed Depression in Medical Students in a Tertiary Care Hospital in North India

Background: Smoking in medical students is a phenomenon with tremendous implications both for themselves and for society. Smoking is associated with depression. But whether such associations remain valid for medical students or not is not known. Studies are scarce investigating this association among medical students. With this aim I investigated the association between smoking and depression among medical students. Methods: A Cross sectional observational study was condeucted where consenting medical students of 1st, 2nd, 3rd professional students and interns were administered a questionnaire about smoking status in them. A separate questionnaire about depression (Becks depression rating inventory) was admisnstered. Results were analyzed using statistical methods. Results: About 9.55 % of the students currently smoked and a further 1.54 % past smokers.3.65 % were moderately depressed, 1.69 % severely depressed and 1.12 % had extreme depression. Smoking was significantly associated with male sex, being a day scholar and most importantly, undiagnosed depression Conclusion: Undiagnosed depression is significantly associated with smoking habit in medical students. Urgent screening of medical students for undiagnosed depression is warranted.