[Mental health status of medical students-A nationwide cross-sectional study]

The mental health status of medical students regarding depressive symptoms suicidal ideation and mental stress has become the subject of increasing scientific research; however, in Germany, no nationwide surveys have so far been performed. The present study presents the results from the first nationwide survey on the mental health of medical students in Germany. The aim of this article is to present the general aspects on psychological and physical health as well as specific data regarding depressive symptoms of German medical students. The data were analyzed in a semester-based and gender-based comparison and possible risk or protective factors were evaluated.

Applying an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic of 8137 medical students from all German medical faculties and study semesters, we collected diverse sociodemographic variables as well as data on psychological and physical health status based on single item measures and questionnaires. Besides sociodemographic information this paper presents data on the physical and mental health status (using single item measures and the Beck Depression Inventory II, BDI-II) as well as correlating influencing factors. Group differences were measured by comparison of mean values and the multivariate dependencies between BDI-II scores and further covariates were analyzed. The survey was completed by 48.3% of the respondents.

Of the respondents 13.8% stated that they were not physically healthy and 36.1% stated that they felt mentally unwell. Using the BDI-II questionnaire, at least mild depressive symptoms were identified in 51.1% of respondents in the first semester. Of the respondents 22% reported current suicidal thoughts. Potential risk and protective factors could be identified, which significantly correlated with the BDI-II scores. Among those risk factors were female gender, lower age, physical complaints, need of university support and the presence of a migration background. In contrast, social support, sports and social engagement seem to be potential protective factors.

Our analyses showed that medical students have a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms compared to the general population, whereby the survey during the pandemic hindered the direct comparison with pre-pandemic data. The possible risk and protective factors identified can serve as a basis for the development of preventive programs to improve the mental health of medical students.