MOBILE PHONE USE PATTERN AND SELF REPORTED HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS

Pattern of mobile phone use and self-reported health problems related to over use of the mobile phones are assessed among the medical students of Travancore Medical College, Kollam. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study design: Cross-sectional study. Sample size: 200 students; Sampling technique: Convenient sampling; Data analysis: Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed by SPSS 20. RESULTS A total of 200 students and interns participated in the study and among them 78 were males and 122 were females; 33% of the participants were very frequent users of cell phone (>2 hours in a day); 77% of students are using smart phones and 23% using simple phones; 39.5% of students spending 100-300 Rs per month to recharge and 34.5% spending 300-500 Rs for the same. More than half of the study population (57%) check their mobile phones every half an hour. Almost 45% students reported to have earache; headache and blurring of vision are some of the other symptoms reported by them. There is a significant association between the above mentioned health symptoms and frequent use of multimedia in mobile phones. Ringxiety is also significantly associated with frequent use of mobile phones. CONCLUSION There is substantial clue that there is overuse of mobile phones among medical students. Actions must be taken proactively to cut down and limit the mobile phone use.