Anxiety and depressive symptoms among medical students-A scoping review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
Abstract
Background: Medical schools are globally recognized as higher education institutions requiring extreme dedication from students. The intensive nature of physician training demands heavy workloads, inconsistent sleep, and study-leisure imbalances. Such stressors are linked to poor student mental health, with anxiety and depression symptoms among the most documented disorders. These burdens negatively affect academic performance and are associated with dropout intentions, misconduct, burnout, and suicidal ideation.
Objective: This scoping review summarizes recent evidence on the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms among medical students and identifies correlated factors.
Methods: The review followed PRISMA guidelines and Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage methodological framework. Searches were conducted on July 5, 2025, in PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO. Boolean operators combined terms related to prevalence, and correlates of depressive and anxiety symptoms, and medical students, limited to systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in English between January 2021 and July 2025. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria after screening. Data were charted for study characteristics, prevalence estimates, contributing factors, and methodological approaches.
Results: The studies included in this review reported wide-ranging prevalence estimates, with the prevalence of depression symptoms in the included meta-analysis ranging from lowest of…
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