Physical health of preclinical medical students during Covid-19

• Main Authors: Nor Azlan, Nur Khairunnisa, Razman, Amalia Izzati, Shaik Mohd Nizam, Nur Alia Iman, Anuar, Muhammad Ashraf Fithri, Abdullah, Muhammad Haikal, Ahmad Ashhar, Muhammad Ikmal Arif, Mohamad, Mohammad Muaz, Shahrir, Shahida Athirah, Johari, Muhammad Luqman ‘Afif, Zulkifli, Ahmad Najmi Abid, Zamani, Muhammad Razin, Azani, Muhammad Adam, Ahmad Haridan, Ahmad Zhareff Emir, Mohd Radzuan, Hazulin, Abd. Rahim, Nour El Huda, Saharudin, Shahida, Wan Omar, Wan Fatein Nabeila
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English; English; English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: QP Physiology; RA790 Mental Health. Mental Illness Prevention
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/1/IUMRC%202021_FRONT%20COVER.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/2/IUMRC%202021_presentation%20Nisa.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/3/IUMRC%202021_Khairunnisa.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/4/Physical%20Health%20of%20Medical%20Students%20during%20Covid-19%20pandemic.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/5/WhatsApp%20Image%202021-11-12%20at%204.48.58%20PM.jpeg; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93717/
• Institution: Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several preventive measures have been put in place including movement restriction and closure of non-essential services in Malaysia including educational premises and shifting towards online learning. Physical inactivity may impact medical students’ quality of life, particularly their physical and mental health, as both are especially influenced by doing physical activity. This study aimed to assess the physical health of medical students during the pandemic. This study has been approved by the institutional research committee (Research ID: 735). All Year 1 and Year 2 International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) medical students were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. Participants were asked to complete an online, self-administered abbreviated World Health Organisation Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire from July until August 2021. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 (IBM, New York). We received 158 responses, consisting of 77 Year 1 and 81 Year 2 students. All participants were undertaking online remote learning at the time of study. The mean score for overall quality of life was 14.58 (3.23) whereas the physical health domain mean score was 14.18 (2.48). We found that the requirement for medical treatment scored the highest 17.70 (3.42) whereas work capacity scored the lowest 12.25 (3.95). There was no significant difference in the scores between 14.50 (2.56) and 13.87 (2.37) for Year 1 and Year 2 students in the individual items (p=0.107- 0.862). We concluded that despite the nationwide lockdown, the medical students in IIUM reported acceptable-good quality of life and physical health. This could be due to their adaptation to the new norms by applying the right coping strategy. Future study to re-assess their quality of life is due should the lockdown are further extended or tightened.