Mental health of Hungarian and German first year medical students

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors with depression, anxiety and stress among college students from three European countries: France, Romania and Republic of Moldavia. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from September 2016 to March 2017 in college students from France (Opal Coast Litorral, Lille, Rouen Universities), Romania (Cuj Napoca) and Republic of Moldavia (Chisinau). A self-administered and anonymous questionnaire including DASS 21 was used to assess depressive, anxiety and stress. Socio demographic characteristics were also collected. Results: Out of 1899 (1094 French, 268 Moldavian, 537 Rumanian) college students included in the current study with M/F ratio of 0.35. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 39.0%, 47.0%, 35.8% respectively. The combination of depression, anxiety and stress was found higher in students from Republic of Moldavia 36.6%, 26.3% Romania and 21.3% France. The female gender was associated with depression (1.32 OR,95%CI [1.03-1.65]), anxiety (1.54 OR,95%CI [1.30-2.01], stress 1.93 OR,95%CI [1.65-2.54]. Health care curriculum was negatively associated with depression 0.67 AOR,95%CI [0.40-0.85], anxiety 0.60 AOR,95%CI [0.44-0.87], stress 0.65 AOR,95%CI [0.43-0.90]. Eating disorders was associated with depression 2.78 AOR, 95%CI [2.02-3.33], anxiety 2.54 AOR, 95%CI [1.99-3.11], and stress 2.36 AOR, 95%CI [1.66-2.89]. Conclusions: This study highlights various prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress according the country and also the curriculum. There is a pressing need to prioritize mental health of college students through the national public health policies. Key messages: Depression, anxiety and stress are prevelent among college student. Mental health problems differ according the country and the curriculum of the college students. Background: Mental health of medical students is a considerable dimension in health of this population. It has an influence on their study results, on their later career and indirectly on the whole society. Several studies found a negative secular tendency according to psychological parameters (depressive symptoms, distress, burnout, etc.) throughout medical studies. The aim of our study is to describe mental health status of students before starting the first semester, in order to know what future interventions should be conducted, and furthermore to compare Hungarian and German students. Methods: Mental health parameters and self-rated health were studied among first year medical students of Hungarian (n = 173) and German (n = 160) programs at the University of Pécs. Filling out the questionnaire was anonym and voluntary. Internationally accepted questionnaires (BDI-21, PSS-10, SOC-13), validated in both languages were used in the study. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS V21.0 using Mann-Whitney and independent samples t-tests. Results: Self-rated health of German students is significantly better (p = 0.004) than the same parameter in the Hungarian