Introduction

Pre-registration medical graduates demonstrate their skills in a hospital as rotation house-officers, which can cause anxiety. The aim of this study is to quantify anxiety (state and trait) in students before starting their pre-registration posts in a public medical school in Mexico, and also to determine if their mean examination grades (GPA) are related to anxiety.

Method

A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using the IDARE questionnaire, which assesses Trait anxiety (STAI R) and state (STAI E). It was completed, before starting the pre-registration house officer rotation in 2014, by students of the Faculty of Medicine, UNAM, 2009 course. Statistical analysis was performed using Student t test for independent samples, and Pearson correlation index.

Results

Out of a total number of 1,023 students in 2014, the sampled population was 479 (46.82%), of whom 332 (32.45%) were women and 147 (14.36%) were men. There were 105 (21.82%) students with trait anxiety trait, with a GPA of 84.1, 132 (27.55%) with anxiety state, with a GPA of 84.0. There were 374 (78.07%) with no anxiety trait, and 347 (72.44%) with no state anxiety. On comparing state anxiety, the Student t-test p=.3 (95% CI -1474 to 0.494); the Pearson correlation index was -0.009, p=.043. On comparing anxiety state, the Student t-test p=.236 reported (95% CI -1.46 to 0.360); the Pearson correlation index was -0.08, with a p=.047. As for the GPA, there was no difference between the different levels of state and trait anxiety.

Conclusions

The trait anxiety level and state is often greater than that reported in the general population. There was no correlation between the presence of anxiety and mean examination grades (GPA).