We aimed to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in university students in Paraguay during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 293 students from four universities in Paraguay in 2021. The DASS-21 mental health scale was used to measure the outcomes (depression, anxiety, and stress) and evaluate their association with socio-educational variables. A total of 77.1% of the participants were women and 136 (46.4%) were between 21 and 25 years old. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress was 74.7%, 87.4%, and 57%, respectively. We found that being a woman and studying at a public university was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Receiving COVID-19 training increases the prevalence of mental health problems. In conclusion, high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress were found in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a woman, studying at a public university, and receiving training on COVID-19 were factors associated with a higher prevalence of presenting all the mental health problems evaluated. Furthermore, students aged 31 and over had a higher prevalence of depression and stress.
Objectives: To determine the frequency of depression and anxiety among Latin American medical students during social distancing in the COVID-19 outbreak period. Methods: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional design, the study included all Latin American medical students affiliated to the Federación Latinoamericana de Sociedades Científicas de Estudiantes de Medicina (FELSOCEM) selected through nonprobabilistic convenience sampling who agreed to participate in the study. Data was collected through a questionnaire, consisting primarily of socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, and country of origin; as a second section, the Goldberg depression and anxiety test was applied, and an analysis was carried out by the nature of the variables. The research protocol was approved by an institutional ethics committee. Results: Of 1579 participating students, from 15 Latin American countries, 68.59% (1083) were women, 65.04% (1027) were between 20 and 24 years old, 95.63% (1510) were single, 23.18% (366) lived in Panama and 11.08% (175) in Chile. 87.14% (1376) have symptoms of anxiety, 66.88% (1056) have symptoms of depression and 64.34% (1016) have both symptoms. Conclusions: A high percentage of medical students in Latin American population suffered symptoms of anxiety and depression during the social distancing measures in the covid-19 outbreak period, data that must be taken into account for future mental health strategies.
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