P.722 No difference in prevalence of common mental disorders in medical students before and during COVID-19 quarantine in a prospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Common mental disorders (CMDs) are indicators of non-psychotic mental problems that can have socioeconomic impact There are few studies of CMDs in medical students As the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic was installed quarantine and lockdown made people isolate themselves to protect and prevent COVID-19 contamination and teaching activities in pre-internship was mainly remote The impact on mental health of such new scenario should be investigated Aims: This study aims to evaluate prospectively during 3 years the prevalence of CMDs in medical students of before and during COVID-19 quarantine Materials and Methods: Students from the first to the fourth-year class in 2018 were invited to participate completing self-administered questionnaires in 2018 In the following years of 2019 and in 2020 during the COVID-19 quarantine they were also invited to participate CMDs were evaluated through the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SQR-20) created by World Health Organization to screen for emotional distress The SQR-20 is composed by 20 questions with yes/no answers and the cut-off point used was 7 This protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee Groups were compared using Qui-square test for categorical variables and Kruskall-Wallis test for continuous variables Results: In the years 2018, 2019, and during COVID-19 2020 quarantine 860 students responded the questionnaires The mean age was 22 6±3 7 years and 64 3% were female SQR-20≥7 (above cut-off for CMD) frequency was 60 5% and mean scores were 8 2±4 6 No difference was found in the sample in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 both for SQR-20≥7 (62 2%, 60 9%, and 59 2%, respectively;p=0 762) and SQR scores (8 4±4 7, 8 2±4 6, and 7 8±4 4, respectively;p=0 351) The first-year class in 2018 did not change SQR-20≥7 frequencies in 2019 and 2020: 66 7%, 72 3%, and 64 0%, respectively (p=0 568), nor SQR scores: 9 1±4 7, 9 5±4 3 and 8 6±4 5, respectively (p=0 502) Similar results were found in the other year classes The second-year class in 2018 did not change SQR-20≥7 frequencies in 2019 and 2020: 65 6%, 66 2%, and 61 1%, respectively (p=0 812), nor SQR scores: 8 7±4 7, 8 7±4 5 and 8 1±4 5, respectively (p=0 620) The third-year class in 2018 did not change SQR-20≥7 frequencies in 2019 and 2020 (in internship): 55 2%, 52 6%, and 48 8%, respectively (p=0 782), nor SQR scores: 7 7±5 1, 7 2±4 9 and 6 6±4 7, respectively (p=0 491) Finally, the fourth-year class in 2018 did not change SQR-20≥7 frequencies in 2019 and 2020 (both in internship): 60 3%, 42 9%, and 59 0%, respectively (p=0 258), nor SQR scores: 8 0±4 3, 6 8±4 4 and 7 7±4 0, respectively (p=0 318) Conclusions: Surprisingly the prevalence of CMDs in Jundiai Medical School students did not change during 2020 COVID-19 pandemic as compared with the years of 2018 and 2019 Probably the maintenance of remote teaching (for the students from the first to the fourth-year class) and the maintenance of internship (for the students from the fifth to the sixth-year class) was sufficient for this sample Studies from other universities should be granted to confirm this scenario No conflict of interest