ArticleBMC psychiatry2022
Association between sedentary behavior and depression among Japanese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional online survey.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comprehensive effects and dose-response relationship of screen exposure on university students' physical and mental health and academic performance in the digital age: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Promoting well-being through creativity: a mixed-methods study on integrating studio art into education for students in medical fields in Japan.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- The correlation between phubbing and depression anxiety stress of first-year medical students: the mediating role of sedentary behavior.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Associations of physical activity, sedentary time, sleep quality, and resting EEG with mild depressive symptoms in college students: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Lifestyle and Psychological Factors Associated With Depression in College Students in Hokkaido, Japan During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2025Article
- Sedentary behavior is associated with the mental health of university students during the Covid-19 pandemic, and not practicing physical activity accentuates its adverse effects: cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The effect of replacing sedentary behavior with different intensities of physical activity on depression and anxiety in Chinese university students: an isotemporal substitution model.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Dynamics of depressive states among university students in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time series analysis.Annals of general psychiatry · 2023Article
- Three-year evaluation of a program teaching social determinants of health in community-based medical education: a general inductive approach for qualitative data analysis.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- The new normal: a review of the impact of COVID-19 on gastroenterology fellowship training.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2023Review
- Exploring changes in levels and patterns of physical activity in undergraduate medical and nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSedentary behavior, particularly prevalent during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been shown to lead to depression. In medical students, this could negatively affect the provision of healthcare. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the association between sedentary behavior and depression in Japanese medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
methodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted from July 30 to August 30, 2021, using anonymous questionnaire system to assess respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, sedentary behavior among 1000 Japanese university students. Depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). The data of 484 respondents (48.4%) were included in a stepwise analysis, where we set the difference between medical and non-medical students as Model 1 and that between medical students with and without depression as Model 2. For group comparisons of both models, the chi-square test was used for sociodemographic characteristics, and the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for physical activity and sedentary behavior. In Model 2, factors associated with depression among medical students were analyzed by logistic regression analysis.
resultsIn Model 1, medical students were less physically active (p < 0.001), had longer sedentary time (p < 0.001), and had higher PHQ-2 scores (p = 0.048) than non-medical students. In Model 2, medical students with depression had longer sedentary time (p = 0.004) and longer leisure screen time than those without depression (p = 0.007). Moreover, logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders showed that sedentary time (OR = 1.001, p = 0.048) and leisure screen time (OR = 1.003, p = 0.003) were significantly associated with depression among medical students.
conclusionsBased on these results, it is evident that reducing Japanese medical students' sedentary time and leisure screen time can help combat depression during the COVID-19 pandemic; thus, these results can guide the development of appropriate interventions to prevent and treat depression.
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