Prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Jinxingyi Wang; Min Liu; Jian Bai; Yuhan Chen; Jie Xia; Baolin Liang; Ruixuan Wei; Jiayin Lin; Jiajun Wu; Peng Xiong

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1116616

Prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Front Public Health. 2023 Aug 31:11:1116616. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1116616. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jinxingyi Wang^#¹, Min Liu^#², Jian Bai^#³, Yuhan Chen⁴, Jie Xia¹, Baolin Liang⁴, Ruixuan Wei⁴, Jiayin Lin⁵, Jiajun Wu⁶, Peng Xiong⁴

Affiliations

¹ The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Guizhou, China.
² Zhuhai Center for Maternal and Child Health Care, Zhuhai Women and Children's Hospital, Zhuhai, China.
³ School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ School of Stomatology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
⁶ School of Nursing, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of mental distress is common for medical students in China due to factors such as the long duration of schooling, stressful doctor-patient relationship, numerous patient population, and limited medical resources. However, previous studies have failed to provide a comprehensive prevalence of these mental disorders in this population. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs), including depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors, among medical students in China.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search for empirical studies on the prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicide attempt, suicide ideation, and suicide plan in Chinese medical students published from January 2000 to December 2020. All data were collected pre-COVID-19. The prevalence and heterogeneity estimations were computed by using a random-effects model and univariate meta-regression analyses.

Results: A total of 197 studies conducted in 23 provinces in China were included in the final meta-analysis. The prevalence data of depression, anxiety, suicide attempt, suicide ideation, and suicide plan were extracted from 129, 80, 21, 53, and 14 studies, respectively. The overall pooled crude prevalence for depression was 29% [38,309/132,343; 95% confidence interval (CI): 26%-32%]; anxiety, 18% (19,479/105,397; 95% CI: 15%-20%); suicide ideation, 13% (15,546/119,069; 95% CI: 11%-15%); suicide attempt, 3% (1,730/69,786; 95% CI: 1%-4%); and suicide plan, 4% (1,188/27,025; 95% CI: 3%-6%).

Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated the high prevalence of CMDs among Chinese medical students. Further research is needed to identify targeted strategies to improve the mental health of this population.

Keywords: anxiety; common mental disorders (CMDs); depression; medical students; meta-analysis; suicidal behaviors.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
China / epidemiology
Humans
Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
Physician-Patient Relations
Prevalence
Students, Medical*

Grants and funding

PX was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2022A1515110261) and the Guangzhou Basic and Applied Basic Research Project (No. 202201010205). JX was supported by the grant of the Science and Technology Project of Qiandongnan Prefecture (2022, No. 05). The funding bodies had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and took responsibility for the decision to submit it for publication.