| Summary: | This study aims to examine the prevalence of peritraumatic distress that is linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among undergraduate medical and dental students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study recruiting 401 undergraduate medical and dental students was conducted at a public university in Malaysia. Accordingly, an online questionnaire was distributed to the participants in September to October 2020, four months after the national COVID-19-related lockdown was relaxed. The primary variable in the analysis was COVID-19 peritraumatic distress, which was measured by the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI), and the outcome variable was the PTSD screened by the Impact of Event Scale-revised (IES-R). Models with eight control variables were developed using linear regression analysis. A total of 401 students participated in the survey, with the mean [standard deviation (SD)] age recorded at 21.9 (1.55) years. The prevalence of CPDI was 31.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) 27.4, 36.5]. Simple linear regression showed that when unadjusted, the CPDI, year of study, income level, presence of financial difficulty, and gadget accessibility had a significant association with PTSD at p-value <0.25. It was revealed that the CPDI was consistently associated with PTSD, with the estimated adjusted coefficient regression of 0.37 (95% CI 0.32, 0.42), p < 0.001, when other variables (year of study, income level, presence of financial difficulty, and gadget accessibility) were controlled. Significantly, identification of vulnerable students is vital to prevent further impact of psychological distress. Therefore, universities need to have revised and current academic guidelines or policies to minimise the distress that students could face in the event of a future pandemic. © Malaysian Association of Education in Medicine and Health Sciences and Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia. 2024.
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