Year : 2021

Volume : Volume 12

Issue : Issue 5

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Ananthalekshmy Rajeev
ananthalekshmyrajeev@gmail.com

Abstract

Background: In this modern era, internet addiction, depression, and obesity are some of the extensive problems which have major public health implications. In India, even though there are several studies which independently analyses the relationship between internet addiction, depression, and obesity, no study evaluated their relation unitedly. The present study was conducted to assess the relationship between internet addiction, depression, and obesity among dental students in Ghaziabad, India. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 450 dental students. The ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the Institution Review Board of the college. Association between internet addiction, depression, and obesity among dental students was assessed using Chi-square analysis. Any P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The response rate of this study was 89.1%. Out of the 401 study participants, 65.8% were female and 34.2% were male. The mean age of the participants was 22.11 ± 4.007. On assessing the relationship between internet addiction, depression, and obesity (body mass index [BMI]) among dental students, it was found that there is a highly significant association (P ≤ 0.05) between each variable. Conclusion: The present study findings can be concluded that internet addiction affects the depression status as well as BMI of dental students.

Keywords: Body mass index, Dental students, Depression, Internet addiction, Obesity