ArticleMedical education online2017
Prevalence, perceptions, and consequences of substance use in medical students.
Article in Medical education online, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 128 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence of Suicidal Behavior and Self-Injury Endorsement Among Saudi Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study of Academic Year Trajectories and Associated Factors.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Cannabis Use Among Ugandan Medical Students: Prevalence, Predictors, and Coping Strategies in a Cross-Sectional Study.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- The State of Mental Health in Medical Students in 2023 from 18 Countries.Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Investigating the prevalence of tobacco or other substance use (TOSU) and associated factors among the medical students: a nationwide cross-sectional survey from Bangladesh.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and determinants of substance use among university students in Saudi Arabia: a nationwide online cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Psychoactive Substance Use and Its Association with Mental Health Symptomatology Among Latvian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical student mental health.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Development and reliability and validity testing of a medication literacy scale for medical college students.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Review
- Factors associated with substance use among preclinical medical students in Turkey: a cross-sectional study.Canadian medical education journal · 2024Article
- Substance Use, Alcohol Consumption, and Smoking Prevalence Amongst Medical Students in Erbil, Iraq.Cureus · 2024Article
- Article
- Compulsive sexual behavior, sexual functioning problems, and their linkages to substance use among German medical students: exploring the role of sex and trauma exposure.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Gender differences in alcohol abuse/dependence among medical undergraduates during the post-COVID‑19 pandemic period (October 20, 2020-April 5, 2021) in China.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Cannabis Use in Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Mental health and lifestyle behaviors of students in a doctor of chiropractic program.The Journal of chiropractic education · 2023Article
- Drug use among medical students in São Paulo, Brazil: a cross-sectional study during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina · 2023Article
- Polydrug Use among Students in a Public University in a Lower Middle-Income Country.BioMed research international · 2023Article
- Behavioral and psychosocial factors related to mental distress among medical students.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundResearch regarding the health and wellness of medical students has led to ongoing concerns regarding patterns of alcohol and drug use that take place during medical education. Such research, however, is typically limited to single-institution studies or has been conducted over 25 years ago.
objectiveThe objective of the investigation was to assess the prevalence and consequences of medical student alcohol and drug use and students' perceptions of their medical school's substance-use policies.
designA total of 855 medical students representing 49 medical colleges throughout the United States participated in an online survey between December 2015 and March 2016.
resultsData showed that 91.3% and 26.2% of medical students consumed alcohol and used marijuana respectively in the past year, and 33.8% of medical students consumed five or more drinks in one sitting in the past two weeks. Differences in use emerged regarding demographic characteristics of students. Consequences of alcohol and drug use in this sample of medical students included but were not limited to interpersonal altercations, serious suicidal ideation, cognitive deficits, compromised academic performance, and driving under the influence of substances. Forty percent of medical students reported being unaware of their medical institution's substance-use policies.
conclusionsFindings suggest that substance use among medical students in the US is ongoing and associated with consequences in various domains. There is a lack of familiarity regarding school substance-use policies. Although there has been some progress in characterizing medical student alcohol use, less is known about the factors surrounding medical students' use of other substances. Updated, comprehensive studies on the patterns of medical student substance use are needed if we are to make the necessary changes needed to effectively prevent substance-use disorders among medical students and support those who are in need of help.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.