Bruna Brasil Carneiro

First- and last-year medical students: is there a difference in the prevalence and intensity of anxiety and depressive symptoms?

OBJECTIVE Medical training is considered a significant stress factor. We sought to assess the prevalence and intensity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in medical students and compare samples of first-year and sixth-year students. METHOD This was a cross-sectional study of first- and sixth-year medical students who attended classes regularly. The study instruments were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). RESULTS A total of 232 students (110 first-year, 122 sixth-year) completed the questionnaires, for a response rate of 67.4%. Overall 50.4% of respondents were male (56.4% of first-year and 45.1% of sixth-year students). Anxiety symptoms were reported by 30.8% of first-year students and 9.4% of sixth-year students (p < 0.001). Female students were more affected by anxiety. There were no significant between-group differences in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION A higher prevalence of anxiety symptoms was found in first-year medical students as compared with sixth-year students. Strategies should be developed to help medical students, particularly female students, manage these symptoms at the beginning of their medical training.

Stress and coping in a sample of medical students in Brazil

Background: Medical training is a stressing situation, making medical students vulnerable to psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Objective: The study aimed to assess the prevalence of stress and coping in students of a public medical school in Brazil, comparing the groups from the first and sixth years of training. Methods: Through a cross-sectional, observational study, a sample of 232 first and sixth-year regularly registered medical students has been evaluated. Students filled a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms (ISSL), and the Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI). Results: From the total sample of 232 students, 110 were first-year students and 122 sixth-year students. Stress symptoms were significantly higher in first-year students (49.1%) than in the sixth-year group (33.6%; p = 0.018). Variables significantly associated with stress were: year of the training (1 st year > 6th year), income (lower > higher income), satisfaction with the training (dissatisfied > satisfied) and the use of escape/avoidance copying strategy (positive association). Discussion: Considering the higher stress symptoms among first-year medical students and the positive association of the escape/avoidance copying strategy with stress, strategies must be developed to enable students starting medical school to be better at coping with this stressful situations.

Can dynamic ultrasonography replace urodynamics in the follow-up of patients with myelomeningocele? A prospective concurrent study

To evaluate the accuracy of dynamic ultrasonography (DUS), as a feasible alternative diagnostic method to identify detrusor overactivity (DO) in patients with neurogenic bladder.