Prevalence of depression among health sciences students: Findings from a public university in Malaysia
Open accessAbstract
Background: High rates of psychological problems including depression among university students have been reported in various studies around the world. The objectives of this study were to explore the prevalence of depressive disorder, as well as the associated sociodemographic factors (gender, origin, school, and year of study) among health sciences students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 425 students from 5 different schools of health sciences at International Islamic University Malaysia, using the Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9). Results: With a response rate of 85.9% (n = 365), the results showed a depressive disorder prevalence of 36.4%. The mean PHQ-9 score of the respondents was 8.10 (SD = 4.9), indicating mild depression severity. A statistically significant association was revealed between gender and severity of depression (P = 0.03), as well as between students’ origin and severity of depression (P = 0.02). Conclusion: The findings indicated high prevalence of depression among undergraduate health sciences students. While providing significant information to students’ affairs department, the study findings suggest the necessity to address depressive disorder in health sciences university students in Malaysia. Future research is needed to confirm these results in larger samples.
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Depression levels among students, reported in several recent studies, have varied between 29% and 38%, with the exception of high-burnout categories.
“with the exception of high-burnout categories, depression levels among students, reported in several recent studies [33-35], have varied between 29% and 38%”
From Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States: Interview Survey Study (2020) · cites this paper as [34]
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Effects of COVID-19 on College Students’ Mental Health in the United States: Interview Survey Study
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“Our findings also show a higher proportion of respondents with depressive symptoms among students than findings in several recent studies in nonpandemic situations [17,18].”
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Vishwakarma, D. K. (2021) · Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development · doi:10.37506/ijphrd.v12i1.13831 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Furthermore, with the exception of high-burnout categories, depression levels among students, reported in several recent studies,[19,20,21] have varied between 29% and 38%, which may suggest an uptick in pandemic-related depressive symptoms among college students similar to recent studies in China.”
ResultAlshahrani, M. S., Alharthi, M. H., Alamri, M. M. S., & Ibrahim, M. E. (2020) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-16461/v1 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Prevalence of Depression Among Health Sciences Students: Findings From a Public University in Malaysia.”
BackgroundOng, S. C. (2022) · Medicine & health · doi:10.17576/mh.2022.1701.17 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Pichamuthu, B. G., Thennavan, S., & Govardhanan, S. (2025) · Journal of Education and Health Promotion · doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_1011_24 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Sahile, A. T., Ababu, M., Alemayehu, S., Abebe, H., Endazenew, G., Wubshet, M., Getachew, H., & Tadesse, T. (2021) · Journal of Psychology & Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.15406/jpcpy.2021.12.00695 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“For depression, normal (0-9), mild (10-13), moderate (14-20), severe (21-27), and extremely severe (28 and above).”
BackgroundGhazali, S. R., Chen, Y. Y., Ling, A. A., Kasnan, N. I. K., Driver, E. S., Mahran, N. N., Faezal, N. F. M., Fikri, F. S. M., & Sabuddin, N. A. M. (2023) · International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling · doi:10.1007/s10447-023-09538-9 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“This finding is a lot higher than the study conducted before COVID-19 among Malaysian university students; Nahas et al. (2019) found that 36.4% of 425 had depressive symptoms.”
InfluentialEffect of Health Education Vis Digital Media during COVID-19 Pandemic in India
Kumar, S. (2021) · International Journal of Current Science Research and Review · doi:10.47191/ijcsrr/v4-i10-21 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Mild, moderate and even severe depression levels were also noticed during survey which is also observed in few recent studies suggest an uptick in pandemic-related depressive symptoms among peoples [22-24].”
ResultSYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION AMONG HEALTH SCIENCES STUDENTS AND ITS RELATION TO LOCUS OF CONTROL
Universiti Teknologi, M. A. R. A., & JASDI, N. F. S. (2023) · Journal of Sustainability Science and Management · doi:10.46754/jssm.2023.06.006 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“%) compared to previous studies found in Malaysia, which is International Islamic University Malaysia (36.4%, n = 365) (Nahas et al. , 2019), Melaka Manipal Medical College (30.7%, n = 397) (Teh et al. , 2015), and University of Malaya (29.4%, n = 1017) (Islam e t al ., 2018).”
ResultInfluentialNahas, A. R. F., Omar, N., Osman, A. M. Y., & Taufek, N. H. M. (2024) · Journal of Pharmacy And Bioallied Sciences · doi:10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_802_24 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“[17] In a similar study among health science undergraduate students in another Malaysian university, researchers found a quite high prevalence of depression (54.1%), anxiety (85.1%), and stress (65%).”
InfluentialSelf-citationArifin, S. R. M., Azmi, S. M. S., Abdullah, K. H. A., Abas, N. A. H., Husain, R., Aidid, E. M., Aziz, K. H. A., Musa, R., Mohideen, F. B. S., Perveen, A., et al. (2022) · International Journal of Mental Health Promotion · doi:10.32604/ijmhp.2022.020972 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Indicativo de depressão e fatores associados em estudantes de graduação de uma universidade pública
Rufino, J. V., Sirtoli, R., Rodrigues, R., Girotto, E., de Andrade, S. M., & Guidoni, C. M. (2024) · Cadernos Saúde Coletiva · doi:10.1590/1414-462x202432030335 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Gamage, C. K. W., PERERA, V. B. J., SIVENDRAN, K., PATABANDIGE, D. K. J., DEWAGE, S. D. H., & Fernando, N. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-542811/v1 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Silva, T. V. S., Correia, L. D. S., & Oliveira, L. D. M. (2021) · Textura · doi:10.22479/texturav14n2p14_20
Elhams, Y. M., Bakry, S., Alharbi, H., Alhothali, O. S., Alsaeedi, A., Kabli, A. F., Alsharif, A. M., Almousa, A., & Alzahrani, Z. (2022) · Medical Science · doi:10.54905/disssi/v26i127/ms373e2377
Ang, Y. W., Alffian, H. A. B., Khairulnizam, N. M. S. B. M., & Manaharan, T. (2022) · Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine · doi:10.37268/mjphm/vol.22/no.3/art.1702
Tingkat stress calon guru pendidikan jasmani selama pandemi covid-19
Bayu, W. I., Usra, M., Giartama, G., Solahuddin, S., & Yusfi, H. (2022) · Journal Of Sport Education (JOPE) · doi:10.31258/jope.4.2.87-96
Prevalence of depression among students in ToyserkanPreprint
Souri, R. (2023) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/sm7hp
Obsessive-Compulsive Related Disorders (OCRD) Across the Lifespan
Prochwicz, K., Löchner, C., & Grünblatt, E. (2023) · Frontiers research topics · doi:10.3389/978-2-8325-3751-0
Mental and Physical Performance of Adult during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Use of Dietary Supplements
Tomer, A., Sarkar, A. K., & Chitme, H. R. (2022) · International journal of Nutrition Pharmacology Neurological Diseases · doi:10.4103/ijnpnd.ijnpnd_49_22
Montoya-Cáceres, P., Báez-Quiñones, Y., Carrasco-Riffo, E., Carreño-Toro, N., & Pérez-Sepúlveda, R. (2025) · Revista Médica de Risaralda · doi:10.22517/25395203.25656
“Cada región geográfica tiene sus propias frecuencias de depresión entre los estudiantes, con rangos amplios incluso en estudios realizados en un mismo país o en diferentes países con condiciones socioculturales similares (21,22,23).”
CHILAKA, P. C., Chijioke, U. O., Obaseki, C. O., & Ekechukwu, E. N. D. (2025) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-6735457/v1
Khan, M. S., Mahazabin, M., Fuad, F., Ahmed, I., & Zaman, M. S. (2025) · Khulna University Studies · doi:10.53808/kus.2025.22.02.1244-se
“The prevalence rate of stress in 41.1% of Hong Kong (Cheung et al., 2016), 47.6% of India (Kumari et al., 2019), 84.4% of Pakistan (Asif et al., 2020), and 44.6% of Malaysia (Wong et al., 2023).”
InfluentialDepression and Its Associated Factors Among Students of a Malaysian University
Ghazali, A. N., Salmi, R., Sham, F., Saw, J. A., & Shuib, N. (2025) · Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences · doi:10.47836/mjmhs.v21.i6.1338
“…predictors of depression among Malaysian university students found from previous literature were age group (15), being female (5), origin (16), current place of living (17), academic stress (18), having other psychiatric diagnoses (19), poor self-esteem (20), dependant on parents' income…”
Ncothweni, S. T., & Nhlabatsi, T. R. (2026) · Taiwanese Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4103/tpsy.tpsy_16_26
Madardam, U., Ranteh, O., & Wainam, N. (2026) · Journal of Education and Health Promotion · doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_1402_25
“For example, prevalence rates as high as 85.1% [1] and 45% [2] have been reported among health science students.”
InfluentialAshani, N. S. N., Mohamed, N. F., & Umar, H. (2026) · Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences · doi:10.47836/mjmhs.22.s2.12
- Authors
- Nahas, A. R. F., Elkalmi, R., Al-Shami, A., & Elsayed, T.
- Venue
- Journal of Pharmacy And Bioallied Sciences
- Published
- 2019
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 170
- ISSN
- 0975-7406 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6537646
- OpenAlex
- W2943175969
- Cited by
- 55
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 9.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Journal of Pharmacy And Bioallied Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- The International Islamic University Malaysia Repository (The International Islamic University Malaysia) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Keywords
- depression, health sciences students, university students, PHQ-9, depression severity, gender differences, international students, sociodemographic factors, International Islamic University Malaysia
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