Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) and its correlation with academic performance of medical students

OBJECTIVE: To determine health related quality of life (HRQOL) of medical students and its correlation with their academic performance. METHODS: Cross sectional study at Services Institute of Medical Sciences, included students of 4(th) and final year MBBS, who filled SF-36 proforma of HRQOL. Scores of 8-domains and of physical component and mental component summary were determined. Marks in all professional examinations were used to stratify students as high performers (≥ 70% marks) and average performing students (< 70%). HRQOL scores was correlated with academic performance using unpaired student’s t-test. RESULTS: Among 267 students included, mental health score (56.2±21.3) was lower than physical health component score (69.03±18.5). Role limitation due to emotional health (RE) (44.81), Vitality (VT) (54.19) and general health perception (GH) (58.89) had lower scores among 8-domains of questionnaire. Female students had significantly lower scores in role limitation due to emotional problems (p value <0.04), vitality (<0.05), bodily pain (p value <0.05) and general health perception (p value<0.03) than male students. Physical health and role limitation due to physical health domains were better in high performing students. CONCLUSION: Mental health of medical students is suboptimal, especially among female students. Students with better physical health have better academic performance.