SynthesisMedicine2019
Prevalence of mental health problems among medical students in China: A meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 133 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
133 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Factors associated with mental health disorders in undergraduate students: A meta-analysis.Narra J · 2025Pooled it
- Is There a Burnout Epidemic among Medical Students? Results from a Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence of depression among medical students in Africa: Systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies exploring prevalence of non-specific anxiety in undergraduate university students.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Prevalence of common mental disorders among medical students in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- COVID-19 and mental health: A systematic review of international medical student surveys.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Mental Health Among Medical Students During COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Pooled it
- Utilization of dental care services among adult Indian population: A meta-analysis of evidence from 2011-2022.Health promotion perspectives · 2022Pooled it
- Prevalence of Anxiety in Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Rapid Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Sleep quality in medical students: a comprehensive meta-analysis of observational studies.Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung · 2020Pooled it
- Suicide among physicians and health-care workers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- The effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on non-suicidal self-injury in hospitalized adolescents with depressive disorders: a randomized controlled trial.Psychological medicine · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of Neurofeedback-Assisted and Conventional 6-Week Web-Based Mindfulness Interventions on Mental Health of Chinese Nursing Students: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- A novel model to predict mental distress among medical graduate students in China.BMC psychiatry · 2021Trial
- The Association Between Online Education and Mental Health Among Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- The Mediating Effects of Psychological Capital Between Undergraduate Nursing Students' Professional Commitment and Academic Procrastination.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Mental Health of Medical Students in Portugal: The Role of Sexual Orientation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Association between medical students' psychological distress and intention to practice.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Mobile phone addiction as a mediator in the association between alexithymia and self-directed learning among Chinese nursing students: a structural equation modeling analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Longitudinal formative assessment reforms in manual therapy education: impacts on psychological wellbeing and course satisfaction.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
73 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe 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.
objectivesThe purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese medical students.
methodsAll 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.
resultsTen 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
findingsChinese 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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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.