SANP Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy 2297-7007 2297-6981 EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG Farnsburgerstrasse 8 CH-4132 Muttenz 03289 10.4414/sanp.2023.03289 Original article Biological psychiatry Prevalence of internet addiction and associated psychiatric comorbidities in medical students Gudlavallety Preeti aac.preeti@gmail.com Associate professor | psychiatry | Department of psychiatry | chalmeda anand rao institute of medical science | karimnagar | Telangana | 505001 | INDIA Radham Ruthika radham.ruthika@gmail.com junior resident, chalmeda anand rao institute of medical science | INDIA Gurnule Sachin R sgurnule28@gmail.com lecturer, chalmeda anand rao institute of medical science | INDIA 15 02 2023 174 01 9 13 Copyright: EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG 2023 EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag AG "Swiss Archives of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy" is an open access publication of EMH published in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons licence attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 4.0 International. You are free to share, copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes. NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. "Non-commercial" means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation. The incorporation of publications in commercial products, the use of publications to advertise for commercial products or services and any other usage that directly or indirectly pursues commercial interests is subject to the express previous consent of the publishing house as part of a written agreement. Please send us your request in writing. Exact indication of the publication from which you would like to reproduce material and detailed information about its intended use help to facilitate and expedite request processing.

Background – Within a span of 25 years, internet has become pervasive and a part of more than one fourth of the households in India. Youth and emerging adults are unique in terms of being the first generation to have grown up using this technology.  While it offers its own advantages, unregulated and uncontrolled usage of the internet has also been associated with several psychiatric co-morbidities. Aims and Objectives- To estimate the extent of internet usage, patterns of usage and addiction to internet To describe the association of internet addiction with socio-demographic characteristics, sleep quality, depression, stress, anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)   Material and Methods – A cross-sectional descriptive study was designed among medical students. A self administered semi structured questionnaire was used to assess socio-demographic characteristics.  Standardized scales utilized in the study included Internet Addiction Test (IAT), Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS21), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Adult ADHD Self-report Scale (ASRS). Descriptive statistics, chi square test and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. Results – 301 students were included in the analysis, 99 (32.9%) males and 202 (67.1%) females predominantly aged between 19 – 26 years. 44(14.6%) of the students were moderately and severely addicted to internet based on cut off scores on IAT. Internet addiction had statistically significant association with depression (p<0.001), anxiety (p<0.001), stress (p<0.001), ADHD (p<0.001) and poor sleep quality (p<0.001).  Conclusion - Self assessment of internet usage should be promoted for enabling these young adults to identify, regulate and balance internet usage. Thus, could be helpful in alleviating associated psychiatric problems.