Prevalence of Depression and Nicotine Dependence Among Undergraduate Engineering and Medical Students - A Cross Sectional Study From West Bengal

Background: Depression among young college students is rising due to various socio cultural factors. Tobacco usage andnicotine dependence is a major public health problem owing to its high prevalence and deleterious effects on physical healthlike causation of cancers, hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke and also negative impact on mental health. The aim isto determine the prevalence of depression and nicotine dependence among college students (engineering and medical).Materials and Methods: This observational cross sectional study was conducted over a period of 3 months in 2023 at anEngineering College and Tertiary Care Medical college and Hospital in Kalyani. Questionnaires containing three partsdemographicinformation, Beck Depression Inventory and Fagerstorm Nicotine Dependence Scale were distributed amongall the students maintaining anonymity. Out of them a total of 300 students of all semesters, 150 each from both theengineering and medical colleges were selected randomly using lottery method. Results: In index study, near about onefourth (23.3%) of the subjects had Moderate Depression as per Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), while nearly one-tenth(11.3%) of the subjects had Severe Depression and a minuscule number (2%) had Very Severe Depression. As perFagerstrom Nicotine Dependence scale 240 among 300 students who were smokers, 58.4% had low to low-moderatenicotine dependence and 41.6% of the subjects had moderate to high dependence. Conclusion: A significant proportion ofparticipants was suffering from nicotine dependency and depression. Thus awareness campaigns at the community level,motivation and counselling of college students regarding the dangers of nicotine usage is of utmost importance forimproving the mental wellbeing of the future torch bearers of our society.