Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms in Medical Students Following a Problem-Based Learning Curriculum

Abstract: Introduction: Depression is a heterogenous disorder of diverse etiology, progression and therapeutic response. Increasing incidence of depression in young adulthood has been reported. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students at a university which adopts an active learning method and to investigate possible associations to sociodemographic variables. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. An electronic questionnaire was applied to evaluate sociodemographic variables and depressive symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed. Results: A slight male predominance (n=93, 53.7%) was found among 173 students, along with an average median age of 24 [22-26]. Depressive symptoms were identified in 46.2% of the students (n=80): 33.5% (n=58) with mild symptoms, 9.2% (n=16) moderate, and 3.4% (n=6) severe. Female gender (p=0.032) and dissatisfaction with the active learning method (p