Introduction:

Although mental health is an essential condition for the human development, the scientific literature shows a high frequency of depression and anxiety in university students, mainly among medical students. To contribute to a better understanding concerning medical students’ mental health, this study had the following objectives: (a) to estimate the prevalence of indicative scores for anxiety, depression, and for simultaneous anxiety and depression, and (b) to analyze factors associated with these conditions in medical students at a federal university in Brazil.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional study including students from a federal medical school in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Participants were enrolled during the first semester of 2015. Mental disorders were assessed with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The magnitude of mental disorders and its associated factors were analyzed calculating prevalence rates and unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results:

We analyzed 355 students. Anxiety was the most common condition (41.4%), followed by depression (8.2%), and both anxiety and depression simultaneously (7.0%). After adjustment of multivariate models and considering both gender and age as confounding variables, our results showed a differentiated risk pattern in relation to three outcomes analyzed. Anxiety risk increased with ‘feeling alone’ (adjusted PR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.123; 2.259), ‘having a history of psychological and/or psychiatric treatment before entering university’ (adjusted PR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.052; 2.542), and ‘feeling morally harmed at college’ (adjusted PR: 1.66; (95% CI: 1.168; 2.364). Depression risk increased with ‘feeling alone’ (adjusted PR: 6.84; 95% CI: 2.047; 22.894) and ‘having a history of psychological and/or psychiatric treatment before entering university’ (adjusted PR: 4.74; 95% CI: 1.790; 12.579). Simultaneous anxiety and depression were associated with ‘feeling alone’ (adjusted PR: 8.90; 95%CI: 2.075; 38.208) and ‘having a history of psychological and/or psychiatric treatment during the medical course (adjusted PR: 3.16; 95% CI: 1.061; 9.439) and before (adjusted PR: 6.01; 95% CI: 2.000; 18.098) entering university’.

Conclusion:

Anxiety and depression are common conditions in medical students. The main associated factors were therapies for mental health before entering in university, loneliness and lack of respect in interpersonal relationships during the medical course. Therefore, initiatives aiming at better welcoming students and reducing conflicting situations can help minimizing these mental problems during university career, once they have a large impact not only in their quality of life, but also in the way they will deal with their patients in the future.

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