The prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms among first and fifth-year medical students during COVID-19 pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract Background: The objective of the current study was to examine the prevalence and risk factors of depressive and anxiety symptoms among first-year and fifth-year medical students. Additionally, to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the problem. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at the College of Medicine at King Saud University between September 2020 and January 2021. The target was medical students at first-year and fifth-year during the 2020-2021 academic year. Depressive symptoms were screened using 9-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) while anxiety symptoms were screened using 7-item generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7) . Results: A total 182 medical students were included. Depressive symptoms (52.9% versus 35.8%, p=0.020) and anxiety symptoms (35.6% versus 26.3%, p=0.176) were higher in the first-year compared with fifth-year students. The difference reached statistical significance only with depressive symptoms. Approximately 19.2% of the students were worried about acquiring COVID-19, 49.4% were worried about academic performance, and 30.8% were feeling sad, depressed or anxious during COVID-19 pandemic. Independent risk factors of depressive symptoms included having concomitant anxiety, being worried about acquiring COVID-19 infection, being worried about academic performance, and feeling sad, depressed or anxious. Independent risk factors of anxiety included having lower grade point average and having concomitant depressive symptoms. Academic year was not a significant predictor of depression or anxiety in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Medical students have an alarming high prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms, which was negatively impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for a special mental health program targeting new and current medical students