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Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence indicated a clear association between COVID-19 pandemic and mental health. This study aimed to assess the dynamic change of mental burden during and after the COVID-19 outbreak and related predictive factors among Chinese undergraduate medical students. METHODS: This...

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Autores principales: Liao, Xiao, Zhang, Simai, Wang, Yue, Jiang, Jingwen, Li, Yuchen, Zhang, Wei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9582608/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36276316
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.982469
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author Liao, Xiao
Zhang, Simai
Wang, Yue
Jiang, Jingwen
Li, Yuchen
Zhang, Wei
author_facet Liao, Xiao
Zhang, Simai
Wang, Yue
Jiang, Jingwen
Li, Yuchen
Zhang, Wei
author_sort Liao, Xiao
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence indicated a clear association between COVID-19 pandemic and mental health. This study aimed to assess the dynamic change of mental burden during and after the COVID-19 outbreak and related predictive factors among Chinese undergraduate medical students. METHODS: This longitudinal survey was conducted among Chinese undergraduate medical students before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak. We focused on COVID-19 related mental burdens including psychological distress, stress reaction, and insomnia symptoms, and defined the sum score of the three specific mental burden indexes as the overall mental burden index. The prevalence of specific and overall mental burdens and their changing patterns at two phases of the pandemic (during vs. after the COVID-19 outbreak) were measured. In addition, multinomial logistic regressions were used to assess the associations between the psychosocial status before the pandemic and specific and overall mental burden changing patterns. RESULTS: Our findings showed that the prevalence of overall mental burden increased (from 27.46 to 37.28%) after the COVID-19 outbreak among the 863 Chinese undergraduate medical students who participated in the surveys at baseline, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, the prevalence of stress reaction symptoms decreased (from 10.90 to 3.60%), while the rates of psychological distress (from 28.06 to 37.95%) and insomnia symptoms (from 12.54 to 20.71%) increased. Participants, with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, somatic symptoms, internet addiction, childhood adversity, stressful life events, and being neurotic were found to have a higher risk of developing mental burden in at least one survey (during or after the COVID-19 outbreak). Healthy family function and being extravert were found to positively impact mental burden. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress, stress reaction and insomnia symptoms have been prevalent among Chinese undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the prevalence of overall mental burden increased after the COVID-19 outbreak. Some students, especially those with the risk factors noted above, exhibited persistent or progression symptoms. Continued mental health care was in demand for them even after the COVID-19 outbreak.
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spelling pubmed-95826082022-10-21 Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak Liao, Xiao Zhang, Simai Wang, Yue Jiang, Jingwen Li, Yuchen Zhang, Wei Front Psychiatry Psychiatry BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence indicated a clear association between COVID-19 pandemic and mental health. This study aimed to assess the dynamic change of mental burden during and after the COVID-19 outbreak and related predictive factors among Chinese undergraduate medical students. METHODS: This longitudinal survey was conducted among Chinese undergraduate medical students before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak. We focused on COVID-19 related mental burdens including psychological distress, stress reaction, and insomnia symptoms, and defined the sum score of the three specific mental burden indexes as the overall mental burden index. The prevalence of specific and overall mental burdens and their changing patterns at two phases of the pandemic (during vs. after the COVID-19 outbreak) were measured. In addition, multinomial logistic regressions were used to assess the associations between the psychosocial status before the pandemic and specific and overall mental burden changing patterns. RESULTS: Our findings showed that the prevalence of overall mental burden increased (from 27.46 to 37.28%) after the COVID-19 outbreak among the 863 Chinese undergraduate medical students who participated in the surveys at baseline, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, the prevalence of stress reaction symptoms decreased (from 10.90 to 3.60%), while the rates of psychological distress (from 28.06 to 37.95%) and insomnia symptoms (from 12.54 to 20.71%) increased. Participants, with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, somatic symptoms, internet addiction, childhood adversity, stressful life events, and being neurotic were found to have a higher risk of developing mental burden in at least one survey (during or after the COVID-19 outbreak). Healthy family function and being extravert were found to positively impact mental burden. CONCLUSION: Psychological distress, stress reaction and insomnia symptoms have been prevalent among Chinese undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the prevalence of overall mental burden increased after the COVID-19 outbreak. Some students, especially those with the risk factors noted above, exhibited persistent or progression symptoms. Continued mental health care was in demand for them even after the COVID-19 outbreak. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-06 /pmc/articles/PMC9582608/ /pubmed/36276316 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.982469 Text en Copyright © 2022 Liao, Zhang, Wang, Jiang, Li and Zhang. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Liao, Xiao
Zhang, Simai
Wang, Yue
Jiang, Jingwen
Li, Yuchen
Zhang, Wei
Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title_full Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title_fullStr Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title_full_unstemmed Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title_short Mental burden among Chinese undergraduate medical students: A prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the COVID-19 outbreak
title_sort mental burden among chinese undergraduate medical students: a prospective longitudinal study before, during, and after the covid-19 outbreak
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9582608/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36276316
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.982469
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