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Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Aug 31:11:1116616.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1116616. eCollection 2023.

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

Jinxingyi Wang #  1 , Min Liu #  2 , Jian Bai #  3 , Yuhan Chen  4 , Jie Xia  1 , Baolin Liang  4 , Ruixuan Wei  4 , Jiayin Lin  5 , Jiajun Wu  6 , Peng Xiong  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

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

Jinxingyi Wang et al. Front Public Health. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow chart for study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Forest plot of prevalence of depression in Chinese medical students.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Subgroup analysis of depression in Chinese medical students based on measurements tools.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Forest plot of prevalence of anxiety in Chinese medical students.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Subgroup analysis of anxiety in Chinese medical students based on measurements tools.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Forest plot of prevalence of suicidal ideation in Chinese medical students.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Subgroup analysis of suicide ideation in Chinese medical students based on measurements tools.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Forest plot of prevalence of suicidal attempt in Chinese medical students.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Subgroup analysis of suicide attempt in Chinese medical students based on measurements tools.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Forest plot of prevalence of suicidal plan in Chinese medical students.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Subgroup analysis of suicide plan in Chinese medical students based on measurements tools.
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