Introduction and objective. Depression is a common mental disorder that affects over 264 million people worldwide. Medical students are at a particularly high risk of this disease. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of depression among Polish medical students and to determine predictors of this disease that are related to student’s lifestyle. Material and method. A total of 1023 medical students took part in the study. The research tool included a Polish version of the PHQ-9 questionnaire and author’s questions which concerned sociodemographic characteristics of the investigated group and analyzed factors. Answers were collected in the April of 2020. Results. About a half of the students (51.61%, 95% CI: 48.50 – 54.72) were found to have major depression (PHQ score ≥ 10). 30.21% of the students had mild depressive symptoms, 26.00% – moderate depressive symptoms and 15.05% – moderately severe depressive symptoms. 10.56% of the participants had symptoms of severe depression. A statistically significant relationship was found between major depression and: frequent feelings of loneliness, not doing sports regularly, not getting enough sleep, not participating in social meetings often enough, having problems with maintaining stable body weight, using alcohol in order to relieve stress or negative emotions and being non-religious. Conclusions. Depression among medical students in Poland is common. There are many lifestyle-linked predictors which are associated with this disease in the above-mentioned group. It is crucial to take actions aimed at reducing the high prevalence rates of depression among medical students in Poland, such as introducing routine screening for depression and creating resources that would enable students to obtain help.
Introduction and purpose. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events experienced before the age of 18 that have lasting negative effects on physical and mental health. Numerous studies have shown that exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences increases the probability of chronic health conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, coronary heart disease, asthma, depression or PTSD. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences among medical and dental students of Polish Medical Universities and to examine an association between ACEs and chosen factors associated with social relationships of the students.Material and method. A total of 1162 medical and dental students from each year of education and 18 different Polish universities took part in the study. The research tool contained the Adverse Childhood Experiences standardized questionnaire and authors’ questions.Results. More than a half of the students (57.4%) had at least 1 exposure to ACEs. 8.43% of them experienced 4 or more childhood adversities. The most commonly reported ACEs were: emotional neglect (23.06%), emotional abuse (22.98%) and mental illness or a suicide attempt in a household member (21.86%). An overall graded relationship was found between ACE score and: parents’ lower level of education, negative relationship with parents, siblings and friends and having a diagnosis of depression.Conclusions. Adverse Childhood Experiences are common among Polish medical and dental students and are associated with worsened social relationships and depression in adult life of the students. It is important to implement strategies that aim to prevent ACEs and help to build social support networks for those that are affected by them.
Introduction and objective. Depression is a disorder that medical students are subjected to. The aim of the research was to investigate the occurrence of subjective feeling of depressive symptoms among Polish medical students during the course of medical studies and to determine predictors of this phenomenon that are associated with studies and lifestyle. Material and method. The research tool was author's questionnaire. 1023 medical students from each year of medical education and different Polish universities took part in the study. Results. 52.79% of the respondents had noticed symptoms that might had pointed to depression during the course of their medical studies. The research suggests that predictors of subjective feeling of depressive symptoms among medical students are: repeating a university subject, repeating a year in university, low selfassessment of academic performance during studying, considering dropping out of university, low satisfaction from the choice of studying medicine, reaching for alcohol in order to destress or discharge negative emotions, not having interests that enable to relax, not doing sports regularly, not participating in social gatherings often enough, not sleeping enough, having problems with maintaining stable body weight and not being religious. Conclusions. There are many lifestyle and studies connected factors associated with depressive symptoms among Polish medical students. The study suggests that it is important for students and their communities to pay attention to the emergence of them in order to improve the well-being of students.
Introduction and objective. Depression is a disease that affects over 264 million people worldwide. According to research, the problem of depression concerns dentistry students. The aim of the research was to investigate the prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms among Polish dental students, determine factors associated with this phenomenon and examine the relationship between these factors and depressive symptoms. Material and method. The participants of the study were dental students enrolled in each of the 10 Polish universities that offer dental education. The research tool was an author's questionnaire and a Polish-language version of 9-Item-Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Results. A total of 247 dental students took part in the study. The statistical analysis showed that 53.85% of the respondents were provisionally diagnosed with major depression. 8.91% of the participants had symptoms of severe depression. The research suggests that not doing sports regularly and not getting enough sleep are factors associated with depression among Polish dental students. Conclusions. Depressive symptoms among Polish dental students are common. Results suggest that it is important for students to maintain physical activity and take care of proper sleep hygiene. Further research needs to be done in order to explore more factors associated with depressive symptoms in the above-mentioned group.
Introduction and objective. Depression is a disease that impairs daily functioning. According to research, as much as 27.2% of medical students suffer from depression or show depressive symptoms and 11.1% of them experience suicidal ideation. The aim of the research was to investigate the occurrence of subjective feeling of depressive symptoms among Polish medical students during the course of their medical studies and to determine predictors of this phenomenon that are related to student's environment. Material and method. A total of 1023 medical students from each year of medical education and different Polish universities took part in the study. The research tool was an author's questionnaire. Obtained data was subjected to a statistical analysis. To assess the relationship between two variables, the chi-square test of independence was used. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Results. The statistical analysis showed that most respondents (52.79%) had noticed symptoms that might had pointed to depression during their medical studies. A statistically significant link was found between subjective feeling of depressive symptoms during the course of medical studies and: mother's level of education, relationship with parents, relationship with siblings, relationship with friends, knowing a person that one could count on in a difficult situation, knowing a person in which one could trust with all their problems, 134 frequent feelings of loneliness and feeling that one doesn't participate in social gatherings often enough. Conclusions. The prevalence of subjective feeling of depressive symptoms among medical students is high. Results suggest that good relationships with others are important in prevention of depression.
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