The description of Medical Student Syndrome is based on the assumption that inexperienced medical students are prone to develop a pathological fear of medical conditions they are taught about. The aim of this study is to examine the sample of students (medical and non-medical) in order to assess and compare their level of hypochondriacal attitudes and health-related anxiety. We also examined other factors which might have had an influence on hypochondria and nosophobia attitudes among students. Methods: The study was conducted in two groups of students: 313 medical students at the Medical University of Silesia and 293 students at non-medical universities in Katowice, Poland. The study used the medical student syndrome self-explanatory questionnaire constructed for the study, taking into account the specificity of the group and the research problem. The research questionnaire was completed in an online survey by 606 students. Results: The results of the study showed that medical students obtained the same scores on a nosophobic scale as the non-medical students (p = 0.5). The analysis of hypochondriacal behavior showed significantly higher results in the non-medical student group (p = 0.02). In the entire study group, females and participants with mental disorders obtained higher scores in relation to nosophobia. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were more common in the group of medical students. Conclusions: Medical studies are not a risk factor for the occurrence of health anxiety and hypochondrial attitudes. Such factors are female gender and having a mental illness.

中文翻译：

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“医学生综合症”——一个神话还是一个真实的疾病实体？波兰卡托维兹西里西亚医科大学医学生横断面研究

医学生综合症的描述是基于这样一个假设，即没有经验的医学生容易对他们所教授的医学状况产生病态恐惧。本研究的目的是检查学生（医学和非医学）样本，以评估和比较他们的疑病症态度和与健康相关的焦虑水平。我们还研究了其他可能影响学生疑病和恐惧症态度的因素。方法：该研究在两组学生中进行：西里西亚医科大学的 313 名医学生和波兰卡托维兹非医学大学的 293 名学生。本研究使用为研究构建的医学生综合征自解释问卷，考虑到群体的特殊性和研究问题。研究问卷由 606 名学生通过在线调查完成。结果：研究结果表明，医学生与非医学生在仇视心理量表上获得相同的分数（p = 0.5）。对疑病症行为的分析显示，非医学生组的结果显着更高（p= 0.02）。在整个研究组中，女性和患有精神障碍的参与者在恐惧症方面获得了更高的分数。抑郁和焦虑的症状在医学生群体中更为常见。结论：医学研究不是健康焦虑和疑病症发生的危险因素。这些因素是女性和患有精神疾病。