Prevalence and Relationship of Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Depression in Medical Students

Abstract

Functional gastrointestinal disorders are extremely common in the population. Epidemiological studies demonstrate a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression in patients with functional dyspepsia than in healthy individuals, possibly indicating an intrinsic role of these psychiatric disorders in the etiopathogenesis. This cross-sectional study included 669 first- to fourth-year medical students at Omsk State Medical University. The study revealed a high prevalence of depression among medical students, significantly exceeding the average population data. An extremely high prevalence of undiagnosed gastrointestinal pathology was found among young people receiving higher medical education. The extremely high prevalence of GI syndromes combined with depression revealed in the study requires a comprehensive study in order to establish the leading causes of this association.