Prevalence and predictive factors for depressive symptoms among medical students in Germany – a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Elevated levels of depressive symptoms among medical students have been the subject of international and national research before, yet associated risk factors and protective factors are to be determined. This study aims to show the burdens of depression at different stages of academic medical education with a special emphasis on correlated risk factors and protective factors. Methods: A total number of n=1103 medical students of a middle-sized German university were sampled and surveyed regarding depressive symptoms and correlating factors. The assessment of potential depressive symptoms was based on the BDI-II. Correlating factors were surveyed through a self-designed questionnaire consisting of possible cofactors for depressive symptoms based on established scientific literature. Results: Survey response rate was 90.2% (1103/1223). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 11% for mild, 5.6% for moderate and 2.4% for severe symptoms. The sample’s most prevalent risk factors were feeling unable to confide one’s own worries to someone else (88%); and experiencing a lack of time for partner, friends and family (77%) or hobbies (76%). Significant predictors for depressive symptoms were neuroticism above all, insufficient emotional support, eating irregular meals, use of medication or drugs to calm down, and mental overload. Factors associated with less depressive symptoms could be identified as: spending time with partner, friends, family, hobbies and exercise; and confiding worries to classmates. Conclusions: Every fifth medical student surveyed reported at least mild depressive symptoms. The majority of the surveyed medical students felt unable to confide their worries to someone else and lamented not having enough time for social interaction with peers, family and hobbies. Certain personality traits – such as neuroticism – and insufficient emotional support showed to play important roles in making medical students more prone to developing depressive symptoms. Based on this research, control of the surveyed cofactors associated with depressive symptoms and possible intervention programs targeted to these are proposed to be a key subject of further research.

Somatization symptoms—prevalence and risk, stress and resilience factors among medical and dental students at a mid-sized German university

“…Despite these limitations of general comparability, we have observed an unusually high number of complaints. This may be due to the high burden of psychological complaints in the sample we studied or because medical and dental students deal with somatic complaints and their consequences on a regular basis as part of their studies ( Pukas et al, 2022 ; Rehnisch et al, 2021 ). Our findings of higher somatic symptom burden in medical and dental students indicate the great relevance.…”

Suicidal ideations among students attending vocational school in Germany: a cross-sectional study to identify prevalence and associated risk factors

“…The present paper uses equivalent methods that are also reported by Rabkow et al (2020), Kindt et al (2021), Rehnisch et al (2021), Ehring et al (2021), andPukas et al (2022).…”

“…They are described in more detail below. Further details on variable scaling have been published by Kindt et al (2021) and Pukas et al (2022).…”

Genderspezifische Unterschiede depressiver Symptome von Studienanfänger*innen während der COVID-19-Pandemie

“…Darüber hinaus wird von einer schlechteren psychischen Gesundheit unter Erstsemesterstudierenden im Vergleich zur Allgemeinbevölkerung berichtet [42]. Verschiedene Querschnittsstudien zeigen Prävalenzen zwischen ungefähr 11 % [42] und 18 % [31], wobei weibliche Studienanfängerinnen gegenüber ihren männlichen Kommilitonen ebenfalls häufiger betroffen sind [42]. Geringere Prävalenzen werden in einer anderen Erhebung unter 298 Studienanfänger*innen der Medizin berichtet, wonach 3 % der Studierenden moderate und 1 % starke depressive Symptome aufweisen [35].…”