ArticleFrontiers in sports and active living2026
Lifestyle habits and health behaviors in first-year medical students: a longitudinal analysis across the academic year.
Article in Frontiers in sports and active living, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Despite being educated in a health-oriented environment, medical students are vulnerable to developing unhealthy habits that may compromise their well-being and future professional effectiveness. This study aimed to assess changes in lifestyle behaviors and psychological well-being among first-year medical students over one academic year. Methods: A longitudinal observational study was conducted on a cohort of 189 first-year medical students at Link Campus University (Rome, Italy). Assessments were performed at the beginning and end of the academic year (November 2024-June 2025). A total of 87 students completed all surveys. Measures included self-reported anthropometric data, the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), Volition in Exercise Questionnaire (VEQ-I), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), WHO5 Well-Being Index, and the Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBIS). Statistical analyses included paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, and correlation analyses using Spearman's coefficients. Results: Of the total of sample, 102 students were female (65%) and 55 were male (35%), with median age was 19.8 years old. At follow-up, a statistically significant increase in BMI was observed ( Conclusions: Over the course of one academic year, medical students reported moderate levels of perceived stress and average emotional and psychological well-being. Despite increasing psychological strain, students maintained a stable core of eating behaviors, suggesting a remarkably resilient and structured dietary pattern. Nevertheless, they exhibited a predictable decline in psychological well-being during examination periods, accompanied by a reduction in motivation for physical activity and modest weight gain. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions within medical education to promote and sustain healthy lifestyle behaviors during the early stages of academic training.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.