Prevalence of mental health problems among medical students in China: A meta-analysis

• Published in: Medicine (Baltimore) Vol. 98; no. 18; p. e15337
• Main Authors: Zeng, Wen, Chen, Ruiqi, Wang, Xingyue, Zhang, Qin, Deng, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc 01-05-2019; Wolters Kluwer Health
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anxiety - epidemiology; China - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Depression - epidemiology; Education, Medical - standards; Feeding and Eating Disorders - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental Health - ethnology; Mental Health - statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Students, Medical - psychology; Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data; Suicidal Ideation; Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis; Workplace - standards; Young Adult; China
• ISSN: 0025-7974; 1536-5964
• DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000015337

The prevalence of mental health problems in medical students has continuously increased and is higher than the prevalence of mental health problems in students with other majors, which could lead to undesirable consequences for the students and their future patients. In China, the current states of medical education and healthcare workplaces differ in certain areas from those in Western or other Asian countries. However, the mental health status of Chinese medical students has not been systematically analyzed.
The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese medical students.
All cross-sectional studies that investigated the prevalence of any mental health problem among Chinese medical students were retrieved from the following databases: EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, OVID, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We accepted each individual trial's inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants. The National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was adopted to appraise the methodological quality of each study. RevMan (version 5.3) was used to analyze the data.
Ten cross-sectional studies involving a total of 30,817 Chinese medical students were included. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and eating disorders were 29%, 21%, 11%, and 2%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation between genders and no significant difference in the prevalence of depression between individuals of different ages (20 years and older or younger than 20 years).
Chinese medical students have relatively high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation but a low prevalence of eating disorders. Mental health problems in Chinese medical students should be taken seriously, and timely screening of and proper intervention in these mental health problems are highly recommended.