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Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Hypochondriac symptoms are commonly reported in health science students. With their incomplete medical knowledge, they may compare their own bodily symptoms with disease symptoms during the process of learning, which can lead to mental distress and the need for repeated medical reassuran...

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Autores principales: Meng, Jingjing, Gao, Chang, Tang, Chulei, Wang, Honghong, Tao, Zirong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6748570/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31527902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222663
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author Meng, Jingjing
Gao, Chang
Tang, Chulei
Wang, Honghong
Tao, Zirong
author_facet Meng, Jingjing
Gao, Chang
Tang, Chulei
Wang, Honghong
Tao, Zirong
author_sort Meng, Jingjing
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Hypochondriac symptoms are commonly reported in health science students. With their incomplete medical knowledge, they may compare their own bodily symptoms with disease symptoms during the process of learning, which can lead to mental distress and the need for repeated medical reassurance. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms in Chinese health science students. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, and Wanfang Data on July 1, 2018. Additionally, the references of the retrieved papers were searched. Cross-sectional studies published in either English or Chinese that reported the prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms in health science students were included. The selection process was executed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, and study quality was assessed with the checklist recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for cross-sectional studies. A random-effects model according to the DerSimonian-Laird method was used to calculate the pooled prevalence. RESULTS: Seven cross-sectional studies involving 6,217 Chinese health science students were included. The pooled prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students was 28.0% (95% CI = 19.0%–38.0%). The symptoms were a little more common in females (30.0%, 95% CI = 19.0%–42.0%) than in males (29.0%, 95% CI = 16.0%–42.0%), but the difference was not significant. No significant differences were found between participants grouped by study year. Only three studies explored the coping styles of students with hypochondriasis, and these revealed a high tendency toward help-seeking behaviors. CONCLUSION: Our systematic review and meta-analysis showed a high prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students, indicating that it is a noteworthy phenomenon. We suggest that counseling and other support services are necessary for health science students.
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spelling pubmed-67485702019-09-27 Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis Meng, Jingjing Gao, Chang Tang, Chulei Wang, Honghong Tao, Zirong PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Hypochondriac symptoms are commonly reported in health science students. With their incomplete medical knowledge, they may compare their own bodily symptoms with disease symptoms during the process of learning, which can lead to mental distress and the need for repeated medical reassurance. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms in Chinese health science students. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, and Wanfang Data on July 1, 2018. Additionally, the references of the retrieved papers were searched. Cross-sectional studies published in either English or Chinese that reported the prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms in health science students were included. The selection process was executed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, and study quality was assessed with the checklist recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for cross-sectional studies. A random-effects model according to the DerSimonian-Laird method was used to calculate the pooled prevalence. RESULTS: Seven cross-sectional studies involving 6,217 Chinese health science students were included. The pooled prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students was 28.0% (95% CI = 19.0%–38.0%). The symptoms were a little more common in females (30.0%, 95% CI = 19.0%–42.0%) than in males (29.0%, 95% CI = 16.0%–42.0%), but the difference was not significant. No significant differences were found between participants grouped by study year. Only three studies explored the coping styles of students with hypochondriasis, and these revealed a high tendency toward help-seeking behaviors. CONCLUSION: Our systematic review and meta-analysis showed a high prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students, indicating that it is a noteworthy phenomenon. We suggest that counseling and other support services are necessary for health science students. Public Library of Science 2019-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC6748570/ /pubmed/31527902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222663 Text en © 2019 Meng et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Meng, Jingjing
Gao, Chang
Tang, Chulei
Wang, Honghong
Tao, Zirong
Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title_fullStr Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title_short Prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
title_sort prevalence of hypochondriac symptoms among health science students in china: a systematic review and meta-analysis
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6748570/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31527902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0222663
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