The DOI matches its Crossref record; 75 of the 79 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prevalence of mental health problems among medical students in China: A meta-analysis
Open accessAbstract
Background: The prevalence of mental health problems in medical students has continuously increased and is higher than the prevalence of mental health problems in students with other majors, which could lead to undesirable consequences for the students and their future patients. In China, the current states of medical education and healthcare workplaces differ in certain areas from those in Western or other Asian countries. However, the mental health status of Chinese medical students has not been systematically analyzed. Objectives: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese medical students. Methods: All cross-sectional studies that investigated the prevalence of any mental health problem among Chinese medical students were retrieved from the following databases: EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, OVID, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We accepted each individual trial's inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants. The National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was adopted to appraise the methodological quality of each study. RevMan (version 5.3) was used to analyze the data. Results: Ten cross-sectional studies involving a total of 30,817 Chinese medical students were included. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and eating disorders were 29%, 21%, 11%, and 2%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation between genders and no significant difference in the prevalence of depression between individuals of different ages (20 years and older or younger than 20 years). Conclusions and implications of key findings: Chinese medical students have relatively high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation but a low prevalence of eating disorders. Mental health problems in Chinese medical students should be taken seriously, and timely screening of and proper intervention in these mental health problems are highly recommended.
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“A meta-analysis of 10 cross-sectional studies, which together engaged over 30,000 Chinese medical students, reported the prevalence of depression at 29%, anxiety at 21%, suicidal ideation at 11%, and eating disorders at 2% [5].”
From Promoting the mental health of university students in China: Protocol for contextual assessment to inform intervention design and adaptation (2021) · cites this paper as [5]
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“In contrast, the situation in South Asia, particularly among its college students, remains under-researched, although existing studies reveal a comparable incidence of psychiatric symptoms. 7”
From Mental Health, Suicidality, Health, and Social Indicators Among College Students Across Nine States in India (2025) · cites this paper as [7]
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Cites
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
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Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses
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Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA Statement.
(2009) · PubMed Central · Cited by 44,859
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & the PRISMA Group* (2009) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-151-4-200908180-00135 · Cited by 37,554
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.005 · Cited by 19,575
The combination of estimates from different experiments
Cochran, W. G. (1954) · Biometrics · doi:10.2307/3001666 · Cited by 5,380 · cited 1×
“Heterogeneity was analyzed by the I(2) test, which describes the proportion of variation across the studies that is due not to chance but rather to the heterogeneity.([30,31]) The higher the percentage, the higher the level of heterogeneity was.”
MethodDyrbye, L. N., Thomas, M. R., & Shanafelt, T. D. (2006) · Academic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00001888-200604000-00009 · Cited by 2,909 · cited 1×
“, they can impair their quality of life and increase the risk of suicidal ideation and decrease academic performance, professionalism, and empathy toward their patients).([12,19,20]) The current state of the medical education system and healthcare working environment in China differs in some areas compared to those in…”
ResultThe ESEMeD/MHEDEA 2000 Investigators, Alonso, J., Angermeyer, M. C., Bernert, S., Bruffaerts, R., Brugha, T. S., Bryson, H., de Girolamo, G., de Graaf, R., Demyttenaere, K., et al. (2004) · Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0047.2004.00327.x · Cited by 1,825
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“The funnel plots indicate possible publication bias, evidence of asymmetry, and other small study effects.([32]) Finally, we followed PRISMA guidelines to report our findings.”
MethodThe Three-Step Theory (3ST): A New Theory of Suicide Rooted in the “Ideation-to-Action” Framework
Klonsky, E. D., & May, A. M. (2015) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1521/ijct.2015.8.2.114 · Cited by 1,799
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Risk factors associated with stress, anxiety, and depression among university undergraduate students
Mofatteh, M., Lincoln College, U. O. O., Merton College, U. O. O., & Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, U. O. O. (2021) · AIMS Public Health · doi:10.3934/publichealth.2021004 · Cited by 561
Suicide among physicians and health-care workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Dutheil, F., Aubert, C., Pereira, B., Dambrun, M., Moustafa, F., Mermillod, M., Baker, J. S., Trousselard, M., Lesage, F., & Navel, V. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0226361 · Cited by 597
“Students were excluded because of the difference in responsibilities in comparisons with health-care workers, and because of the existence of previous recent meta-analyses focusing specifically on health-care students [21,22,23,24]; we included interns because they were not included in the aforementioned meta-analyses…”
Shao, R., He, P., Ling, B., Tan, L., Xu, L., Hou, Y., Kong, L., & Yang, Y. (2020) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-020-00402-8 · Cited by 422
“These factors could be the cause of worries and mental disorders in Chinese medical students [29, 30].”
BackgroundLasheras, I., Gracia‐García, P., Lipnicki, D. M., Bueno‐Notivol, J., López‐Antón, R., de la Cámara, C., Lobo, A., & Santabárbara, J. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17186603 · Cited by 308
“There are several proposed mechanisms, including a high proportion of students with neurotic and perfectionistic personalities [16,31], and a particularly academically and emotionally demanding training [16,32,33].”
BackgroundExploring perceived stress among students in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic
Aslan, I., Ochnik, D., & Çınar, O. (2020) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph17238961 · Cited by 255
Metadata
- Authors
- Zeng, W., Chen, R., Wang, X., Zhang, Q., & Deng, W.
- Affiliations
- Department of Graduate Medical Education
- Department of Neurosurgery
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Deng, Wei
- Venue
- Medicine
- Published
- 2019-05
- Volume
- 98
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- e15337
- ISSN
- 0025-7974 (ISSN-L)
- 1536-5964
- PMC
- PMC6504335
- OpenAlex
- W2942994841
- Cited by
- 286
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 29 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 5.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Health and Family Planning Commission of Sichuan Province
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2012017yjsy200)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- mental illness, medical students, depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, eating disorders, prevalence, Chinese medical students, gender differences, age differences, mental health screening
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Mental Disorders, China, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Education, Medical, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Students, Medical, Prevalence, Workplace, Young Adult, Suicidal Ideation
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