PREVALENCE OF COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS FROM BRAZIL AND THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

Medical students face stressful events throughout their careers related to medical training, making them the most distressed group of students among all undergraduate students. Thus, a systematic literature review was carried out to assess the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD) in medical students in Brazil and to discuss the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the worsening of this condition. Therefore, terms related to medical schools, medical students, mental health, mental disorders and Brazil were searched in the PubMed, PsycINFO, SCIELO and LILACS databases. Cross-sectional studies that evaluated CMD among medical students in Brazil were included, using the already validated Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), and a weighted average of the prevalence of these disorders was calculated in the studies found. Articles related to the mental health of medical students around the world in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic were also evaluated. There were 663 records identified in the bibliographic search, of which 21 studies met the eligibility criteria, totaling 5344 medical students. After the calculations, an average prevalence of 35.9% of CMD was found in this population. Therefore, a high prevalence of CMD among medical students in Brazil was observed, which predisposes a strong negative impact on the mental health of these students during the COVID-19 pandemic period, making it necessary to launch new education and awareness campaigns in mental health, involving medical education institutions, families and the community in which the student is inserted