Background and Objectives:
Medical Training is regarded as stressful and stress is prevalent amongst medical students. However, studies assessing whether stress is uniform across year of study and gender in a Pakistani Medical school are lacking. The study primarily aims to examine levels and sources of stress in students at a Pakistani Medical school with regards to year of study and gender. This study also looks at the effects of demographics on self reported stress.

Methods:
A cross sectional survey was distributed to 350 medical students of year 1, 4 and 5 at Combined Military Hospital, Lahore Medical College, Lahore. It contained a consent form, general demographic information and the MSSQ questionnaire consisting of 40 items to identify levels and sources of stress.

Results:
The response rate was 241/350(68.84%).Year 1 reported a Moderate stress level of 1.890,Year 4 reported a High stress level of 2.039 and year 5 reported a Moderate stress level of 1.925 where academics were the stressors. Males reported a lower stress levels than females (p<0.000). The common sources of stress were academic and social. Linear regression analysis indicated that daily hours of study was positively correlated with academic stressors (p<0.026) and social stressors (p<0.028).Daily hours of sleep was negatively correlated with academic stressors (p<0.045). Year of study (p<0.036) and Marital Statues (p<0.024) were negatively correlated with social stressors.

Conclusion:
The stress levels and sources did change with year of study. Stress and stressors were found to be gender specific with males reporting lesser perceived stress.