Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Apr 21:12:393-398.
doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S302897. eCollection 2021.

Depression and Anxiety Among Medical Students: A Brief Overview

Ahmad A Mirza  1 , Mukhtiar Baig  2 , Ghada M Beyari  3 , Mohammed Aiman Halawani  3 , Abdulrahim A Mirza  4
Affiliations
Review

Depression and Anxiety Among Medical Students: A Brief Overview

Ahmad A Mirza et al. Adv Med Educ Pract. .

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are highly prevalent conditions worldwide. This article reviews the extent of depression and anxiety among medical students and elucidates associated potential risk factors. In comparison to other countries, students from Middle East countries have a higher prevalence of depression. Females suffer from these conditions more commonly than males. Factors associated with these morbidities can be divided into academic and non-academic factors. There is an inconclusiveness of whether medical students experience these symptoms more commonly than their counterparts. The present review provided a cross-sectional picture of the students' psychological well-being, which is crucial to formulate a health policy for preventive and therapeutic purposes.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; mental health; students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Shanafelt TD, Bradley KA, Wipf JE, Back AL. Burnout and self-reported patient care in an internal medicine residency program. Ann Intern Med. 2002;136(5):358–367. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-136-5-200203050-00008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mareiniss DP. Decreasing GME training stress to foster residents’ professionalism. Acad Med. 2004;79(9):825–831. doi: 10.1097/00001888-200409000-00003 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ibrahim AK, Kelly SJ, Adams CE, Glazebrook C. A systematic review of studies of depression prevalence in university students. J Psychiatr Res. 2013;47(3):391–400. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.11.015 - DOI - PubMed
    1. GBD 2015 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet. 2016;388(10053):1545–1602. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31678-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Puthran R, Zhang MWB, Tam WW, Ho RC. Prevalence of depression amongst medical students: a meta-analysis. Med Educ. 2016;50(4):456–468. doi: 10.1111/medu.12962 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources