ArticleAnnals of Saudi medicine
Prevalence of alexithymia and associated factors among medical students at King Abdulaziz University: a cross-sectional study.
Article in Annals of Saudi medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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18 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the pathways between personality traits, alexithymia, and resilience among medical students and interns: a cross-sectional study in Egypt.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Prevalence of alexithymia and its association with social media addiction among medical students in Pakistan: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Alexithymia and clinical communication competence in nursing interns in China with the mediating role of self-efficacy.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Internet addiction and internet gaming disorder levels as predictors of alexithymia traits among university students.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Latent profile of alexithymia in Chinese nursing students and its relationship with anxiety, depression, and stress: a cross-sectional study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- The Silent Burden: Understanding Alexithymia and Its Correlation With University Student Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in a Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- The correlation between alexithymia and communication skills among undergraduate pharmacy students.Heliyon · 2025Article
- Prevalence of Alexithymia and Associated Factors Among Dental Students in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Alexithymia and Quality of Life in Saudi Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Community-Based Study.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Article
- Mental Imagery in the Relationship between Alexithymia and Parental Psychological Control.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Factors that affect levels of alexithymia, empathy and communication skills of nursing students in northern Iran.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Prevalence of alexithymia among medical students in Nepal: A cross-sectional study based on a self-administered questionnaire.Health science reports · 2023Article
- Prevalence and associated factors of alexithymia among medical students: A cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia.Neurosciences (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) · 2022Article
- Association between Alexithymia and Depression among King Khalid University Medical Students: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Occurrence of Alexithymia and Its Association with Sports Practice from a Sample of University Students: Results from a French Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Mindfulness for mediating the relationship between self-control and alexithymia among Chinese medical students: A structural equation modeling analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Comment on Alzahrani et al. "Prevalence of alexithymia and associated factors among medical students at King Abdulaziz University: a cross-sectional study".Annals of Saudi medicineArticle
- Comments on "Prevalence of alexithymia and associated factors among medical students at King Abdulaziz University: a cross-sectional study".Annals of Saudi medicineArticle
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMedical students are at higher risk of developing alexithymia due to the nature of their studies.
objectivesDetermine the prevalence of alexithymia and potential risk factors among medical students in Saudi Arabia.
designA cross-sectional analytic study. SETTINGS: University medical school. PATIENTS AND
methodsAn institutional cross-sectional survey of medical students was conducted using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to assess the prevalence of alexithymia and potentially associated factors (gender, parental marital status, grade point average, status of accommodations, smoking status, year of study, childhood abuse, a history of mental illness, and physical activity).
main outcome measuresGender, parental marital status, grade point average, status of accommodations, smoking status, year of study, childhood abuse, a history of mental illness, and physical activity. SAMPLE SIZE: 347.
resultsThe prevalence of alexithymia among medical students was 49% (95% confidence interval [43.8-54.2]). A binary logistic regression model showed significant associations between alexithymia and academic year of study (lower risk of alexithymia in the clerkship (5th, 6th years); odds ratio [OR]: 0.43, 95% CI: 0.26-0.72), smoking (OR: 3.52, 95% CI: 1.60-3.34), grade point average (lowest; OR: 10.44, 95% CI: 4.24-25.77), history of childhood abuse (OR: 2, 95% CI: 1.20-8.77), and history of psychiatric illness (OR: 14.40, 95% CI: 4.76-21.06).
conclusionAlmost half of the medical students suffer from alexithymia. Increasing the awareness about alexithymia among students and directing them where to seek help would facilitate the management of these problems. LIMITATIONS: Limited only to medical students from the second year to the sixth year in a single medical college, which affects generalizability. The cross-sectional design might have also limited generalizability. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.
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