College student symptoms as assessed by a student health survey

ObjectiveWe sought to identify the general health of college students.ParticipantsA total of 4402 university freshmen and sophomores were recruited to report their general health through an online questionnaire.MethodsResponses from the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire were analyzed. We then conducted latent class analyses to evaluate 54 different symptoms among participants.ResultsA four class solution was identified, consisting of a group of asymptomatic students (35.65%), a second group of students reporting mild fatigue and sleep symptoms (38.87%), a third group reporting moderate sleep and fatigue symptoms (20.36%), and a group reporting moderate and severe complaints on the majority of symptoms (5.11%). Female students had 2.07 times the relative risk of the severe symptom class of men. Indigenous students have 2.88 times the relative risk of occupying the severe symptom class than non-indigenous students.ConclusionsThe results suggest that about 5% of college students have varied symptoms of a moderate to severe degree. Future research is needed to better assess whether there are biological associations with these self-report findings, as well as to determine longer-term implications of these symptoms.