Myopia among Medical Undergraduates of a Medical College: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Introduction: Myopia is defined as a refractive error in which rays of light entering the eye parallel to the optic axis are brought to focus in front of the retina when accommodation is relaxed. Globally, myopia prevalence is on the rise for unknown reasons. The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of myopia among undergraduates of a medical school. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among medical undergraduates of a medical school between 2 May 2022 to 3 August 2022 after receiving ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee of the same institute (Reference number: 21/20). A proforma was distributed among the medical undergraduates and data from known myopic students were collected. A convenience sampling method was used. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated. Results: Among 279 medical undergraduates, myopia was seen in 119 (42.65%) (36.85-48.45, 95% Confidence Interval). The mean age of the myopic undergraduates was 21±1.47 years. Conclusions: The prevalence of myopia among undergraduates was found to be lower than the other studies done in similar settings. Keywords: medical students; myopia; prevalence.

Prevalence of Psychoactive Drug Use among Medical Students in a Medical College of Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Psychoactive drug is a worrisome and emerging global problem. This is a disturbing matter, especially in the case of medical students, as it affects not only their health and academic performance alone but their clinical efficiency as well. This study aims to determine the prevalence of psychoactive drug use among medical students in a medical college in Nepal. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted after receiving ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee (Ref: 258/19) among undergraduate medical students from December 2019 to June 2020. Convenience sampling was used to collect data. Data analysis was done in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Point estimate at 95% confidence interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS: The prevalence of psychoactive drug abuse was found to be 76 (44.2%) [CI= 43.6%â€"44.8%]. The study showed males 59 (59%) were more indulged in abuse than females 17 (23.6%). Alcohol 72 (41.86%) was the most commonly used, then was tobacco 24 (13.95%) followed by cannabis 17(9.88%). Only two students were sedative and opioid abusers. Pleasure 38 (31.70%) and experimentation 29 (24.20%) were the two major causes of substance abuse. Tobacco was used more frequently 14 (58.33%) used daily and found to have more financial and health-related issues in the last three months. CONCLUSIONS: Even almost half of the students were using some form of psychoactive drugs, the majority of them were occasional users. Proper counseling needs to be done to address this problem. Further study should be conducted to address the influencing factors and adverse outcomes.