Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its predictive factors among male medical students in University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia

Background: Identifying the potential factors of depression among medical students is the first step towards academic excellence and future safe medical practice. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during a period from December 2019 to February 2020 at the University of Bisha, College of Medicine (UBCOM), Bisha province, Saudi Arabia. Male medical students from year one to year six were involved. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data about the socio-demographic and academic characteristics of students. The Arabic version of the PHQ-9 scale with a score of 10 was used to diagnose depression. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the prevalence and risk of depression. Results: Of the 190 male students enrolled, 26.8% had depressive symptoms, of whom 45.1% were having moderate to severe symptoms. The significantly highest depression rate was found among the second-year students, at 43.8% (OR=2.544; 95% CI 1.178-5.714; p =0.018), and the lowest rate was foundamong year one students, at 8.9% (OR=0.203; 95% CI 0.075-0.560; p=0.002). Univariate regression revealed a significant correlation between depression and dissatisfaction of family income, loss of family members, having psychological illness, difficulties in personal relationships, regretted studying medicine, failure in an academic year, a lower grade than expected, conflict with tutors, lack of college facilities and heavy academic load. In multivariate analysis, loss of family members (AOR=0.077; 95% CI 0.013-0.451), difficulties in personal relationships (AOR=2.371; 95% CI 1.009-5.575), regret study medicine (AOR=3.764; 95% CI 1.657-8.550), failed in an academic year (AOR=2.559; 95% CI 1.112-5.887) were independently correlated with depression. Conclusion: The study concluded that medical students at UBCOM also experience depressive symptoms associated with various risk indicators. Optimizing the educational and social environment coupled with infrastructure facilities at UBCOM might promote students’ mental health and well-being. Keywords: Depression, predictive factors, medical students, Saudi Arabia