Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Emily N Satinsky; Tomoki Kimura; Mathew V Kiang; Rediet Abebe; Scott Cunningham; Hedwig Lee; Xiaofei Lin; Cindy H Liu; Igor Rudan; Srijan Sen; Mark Tomlinson; Miranda Yaver; Alexander C Tsai

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7

Systematic review and meta-analysis of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students

Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 13;11(1):14370. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-93687-7.

Authors

Emily N Satinsky¹, Tomoki Kimura², Mathew V Kiang^{3

4}, Rediet Abebe^{5

6}, Scott Cunningham⁷, Hedwig Lee⁸, Xiaofei Lin⁹, Cindy H Liu^{10

11}, Igor Rudan¹², Srijan Sen¹³, Mark Tomlinson^{14

15}, Miranda Yaver¹⁶, Alexander C Tsai^{17

18

19}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Global Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. satinsky@usc.edu.
² San Mateo County Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, San Mateo, CA, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
⁴ Center for Population Health Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
⁵ Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Economics, Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
⁸ Department of Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
⁹ Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Departments of Newborn Medicine and Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹¹ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Centre for Global Health, Edinburgh Medical School, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
¹³ Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Global Health, Institute for Life Course Health Research, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.
¹⁵ School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queens University, Belfast, UK.
¹⁶ Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles Area Health Services Research Training Program, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁷ Center for Global Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. actsai@partners.org.
¹⁸ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. actsai@partners.org.
¹⁹ Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. actsai@partners.org.

Abstract

University administrators and mental health clinicians have raised concerns about depression and anxiety among Ph.D. students, yet no study has systematically synthesized the available evidence in this area. After searching the literature for studies reporting on depression, anxiety, and/or suicidal ideation among Ph.D. students, we included 32 articles. Among 16 studies reporting the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of depression across 23,469 Ph.D. students, the pooled estimate of the proportion of students with depression was 0.24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.18-0.31; I² = 98.75%). In a meta-analysis of the nine studies reporting the prevalence of clinically significant symptoms of anxiety across 15,626 students, the estimated proportion of students with anxiety was 0.17 (95% CI, 0.12-0.23; I² = 98.05%). We conclude that depression and anxiety are highly prevalent among Ph.D. students. Data limitations precluded our ability to obtain a pooled estimate of suicidal ideation prevalence. Programs that systematically monitor and promote the mental health of Ph.D. students are urgently needed.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Anxiety / diagnosis*
Anxiety / epidemiology
Depression / diagnosis
Depression / epidemiology*
Education, Graduate
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health
Mental Health Services
Prevalence
Quality of Life
Risk
Risk Factors
Students*
Suicidal Ideation*
Universities