Control of impulses and addictions in medical students of the Ricardo Palma University, Lima-Peru

Introduction: Impulse control and addictions are currently common, but these are little measured in those who will be the future health professionals. Objective: To determine the lack of impulse control in medical students according to the associated factors in comparison with other careers at the Ricardo Palma University. Methodology: Analytical transversal study, medical school students (55% of the total population) were taken as the interest group; compared versus a non-random sample of the other careers. Tests were used to obtain the main variable (MULTICAGE CAD-4; which has a validation, good values of Cronbach's Alpha and already defined cut points) and association statistics were obtained. Results: Out of 500 students, 31% had Internet addiction. Medical school students had less frequency of alcoholism (p<.001), drugs (p = .012), and eating disorders (p = .005); women had more eating problems (p = .002); older students had more problems with drugs (p<.001), but less with eating disorders (p = .044); those who failed had less problems with alcohol (p = .028), but more with drugs (p<.001). Men had more problems with video games (p = .017), the older they were the fewer problems with the Internet (p = .011), and the more courses they failed throughout their careers, the more problems they had with the Internet (p = .047). Conclusion: There is low dependence on certain impulses and addictions, but there are many associated factors among medical students.