Abstract

PEDRAZ-PETROZZI, Bruno et al. Anxiety, restless legs syndrome and onychophagia in medical students. Rev Neuropsiquiatr [online]. 2015, vol.78, n.4, pp.195-202. ISSN 0034-8597.

Objectives: The present work describes the frequency of anxiety, onychophagy and restless legs syndrome (RLS) in medical students and explore the relation among these conditions. Material and methods: 315 medical students from the first to the fifth year from a private university where selected to participate. The instruments used for the study where: The Beck Anxiety Inventory, a Likert scale for onychophagy (nail biting), the Inventory of Epidemiological Studies for RLS (García - Borreguero) and the RLS Inventory (International RLS Group). Results: A frequency of anxiety (61.3%), onychophagy (52.63%) and RLS (9.29%) were found. Being male was a protective factor for anxiety (prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.74; p =0.001,95% CI = 0.63 to 0.89). There was an association between anxiety symptoms and RLS (PR = 2.52; p = 0.036, 95% CI = 1.06 - 6.00); and between anxious and onychophagy symptoms (PR = 1.47; p = 0.002, 95% CI = 1.15 -1.87). Coexistence of onychophagy and RLS were associated with anxiety symptoms (PR = 5.37; p =0.023, 95% CI = 1.26 - 22.82).There was no significant association between RLS and onychophagy. Conclusions: There is an association between anxiety and RLS, and between anxiety and onychophagy; but not between RLS and onychophagy.

Keywords : Anxiety; onychophagy; restless leg syndrome; prevalence; association.

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