Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its correlates among medical students in China: a national survey in 33 universities

Abstract

We conducted a national survey among medical students in China to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and explore associated risk factors based on an established questionnaire composed of demographic information, life events in the past four weeks before survey, and the validated Chinese version of the 21-item Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). The mean age of enrolled 9010 students was 20.7 (standard deviation: 1.6) years. BDI scores indicated that 19.9% had depressive symptoms based on the cut-off score of 14. Socioeconomic factors and student characteristics such as male sex, low monthly income per capita, father's poor education background, and higher year of study were associated with higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students. Students who studied in comprehensive universities were more likely to have depressive symptoms compared with those from medical universities. Habitual smoking and alcohol drinking, sleep deprivation, and hospitalization or medication for one week or more in the last four weeks also predisposed students to higher risk of depressive symptoms. Our results indicate that depressive symptoms are becoming a highly prevalent health problem among Chinese medical students. Primary and secondary prevention should be prioritized to tackle this issue based on potential risk factors.

Depression and stressful life events among medical students during undergraduate career: Findings from a medical school in South Asia

“…Overall, 19% of the respondents in our sample were depressed by accepted BDI cutoffs. Compared to studies done in the region using BDI, this is similar to China (19% depression) (Pan et al, 2016) while lower than the results of both Hong Kong (48%) (Chan, 1991) and India (45%) (Gupta & Basak, 2013). However, both Chan (1991) and Gupta and Basak (2013) used a lower cut-off score to diagnose depression.…”

Improve Management of Stress-related Mental Disorders in Chinese Medical Students: A Randomized Controlled Study

“…In China, the 3rd and 4th year of the medical course is an important transitional stage in the student's academic calendar which is characterized by the heaviest study load and the full-time clinical exposure. The incidence of depression was proven to be higher in senior medical students by a national survey that has screened 33 universities in China [19]. Hence, we selected the 3rd/4th grade medical students as the participants in this study.…”

“…In China, medical students usually spend ve years in their undergraduate course with initiation of full clinical contact in their third year. This transition always brings the heaviest study load and most of the associated mental problems [19]. Students in senior grades often feel more depressed than their junior grade students with more burnout as well as lower sense of personal achievement [20].…”

When investigating depression and anxiety in undergraduate medical students timing of assessment is an important factor - a multicentre cross-sectional study

“…The focus of this paper is on the symptoms of depression and anxiety experienced by medical students. Studies of undergraduate medical students, undertaken in different countries, suggest that students experience increasing mental health issues including symptoms of depression and anxiety as their course progresses [11,12]. However other studies have found higher levels of depression and anxiety among medical students at the outset of their course [13][14][15].…”

“…For example female students in Serbia and Pakistan were found to record significantly higher levels of both depression and anxiety but gender differences for anxiety were more pronounced than those for depression [18,19]. By contrast, a study of Chinese medical students found a significantly higher proportion of male students had symptoms of depression compared to female students [12].…”