ArticleBMJ open2025
UK medical students' mental health and their intention to drop out: a longitudinal study.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- The relative importance of resilience factors prior, during, and after stress-inducing exams in medical students.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Association between medical students' psychological distress and intention to practice.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Educational delays and psychological burden by disability status among newly graduated medical students in Japan.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- Autonomic echoes of student life: a mixed-method inquiry with meta-inferential integration of autonomic function, lifestyle narratives, and health behaviours among medical students.Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju · 2026Article
- Rural admission quota in Germany: students' attitudes, challenges and the need for support programmes.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Evaluating the Views of Final-Year Medical Students Towards Their Medical Education Model: A Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2026Article
- Effects of exercise on depression and anxiety in university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Review
- Mental Health Trajectories in Medical Students: The Impact of Academic Repetition on Depressive Symptoms and Self-Rated Health.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Beyond the Stethoscope: A Systematic Review of Mental Health Disparities among Medical Students of Color during Medical Training.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- Ignorance Is Not Bliss: A Systematic Review on the Impact of Ignoring UK Medical Students During Clinical Placements.Cureus · 2025Review
- A Six-Year Longitudinal Study of Psychological Distress, Depression, Anxiety, and Internet Addiction Among Students at One Medical Faculty.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The unseen costs of medical training in the UK: a growing crisis.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe attrition of medical students is an incredibly important problem feeding into healthcare workforce issues. This study seeks to explore the relationships between various mental health issues and dropout.
designThis is a longitudinal study where medical students completed an online questionnaire between November 2020 and February 2021 and those who took part were invited (February-May 2021) to complete the questionnaire again 3 months later. SETTINGS: Students from nine geographically spread medical schools in the UK took part in this study.
participants792 (71.16%) participants filled in the baseline questionnaire and 407 (51.39%) of these students completed the follow-up survey (385 participants were lost to follow-up). OUTCOME MEASURES: Dropout intentions. EXPOSURES: Various mental ill-health symptoms using validated scales: emotional exhaustion, insomnia, somatisation, hazardous drinking, anxiety/depression, anorexia tendencies, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), paranoia and bipolar.
resultsA large number of students met the criteria for mental health disorders (eg, 54.1% insomnia, 37.9% anxiety/depression, 19.4% paranoia) and 19.4% (79) said that they considered dropping out from medical school. Those students who were more emotionally exhausted (B
conclusionsA substantial number of UK medical students experienced mental ill-health symptoms, about one in five medical students considers leaving medical school, and mental ill-health symptoms contributed to students' intentions to leave their medical education. Medical schools should improve the learning environment for students and encourage them to seek help to reduce the stigma of mental ill-health symptoms (eg, through education, signposting). It may be useful for medical schools to help applicants/medical students understand whether medical school is the right decision for them and provide them with resources should they wish to leave.
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