The Relation between General Health and Internet Addiction in Medical Students, Isfahan, Iran

The Internet is one of the most important sources to access scientific writing in medical universities. However, the students use it for their personal and special goals. Since the prevalence and the incidence of Internet addiction are recently increasing among students, this study was carried out to assess the relation between general health and Internet addiction in students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Isfahan, Iran) in 2010. In this analytical, cross-sectional study, 123 students of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences were randomly selected. We used the Yang Internet addiction test and the general health questionnaire to gather data. Finally, the users were categorized as normal, moderately addicted, and severe addicted. Data was analyzed by using independent-t- and Kruskal-Wallis tests in SPSS16. Based on our findings, 80.5% of the students were normal but 19.5% were moderately addicted users. In addicted users, the mean scores of physical health, social function disorders, anxiety, and depression were 15.28 ± 3.77, 10.67 ± 4.6, 15.69 ± 4.16, and 7.42 ± 6.21, respectively. There were statistically significant relations between general health dimensions in both groups (P < 0.01). Considering the destructive effects of Internet addiction on student's health dimensions, it seems to be necessary to control and supervise the Internet usage among university students. Moreover, the students should be educated about the harmful effects of Internet abuse.