Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, PV, Italy.
Department of Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, via Forlanini 12, 27100, Pavia, Italy.
Psychiatr Q. 2021 Jun;92(2):715-720. doi: 10.1007/s11126-020-09844-0. Epub 2020 Sep 7.
In spite of the growing awareness on medical students' mental health in recent years, epidemiologic literature about the topic is scarce, particularly for what concerns suicide. Here, we collected cases of suicides among medical students enrolled at a local University in Italy and compared it to the general population of the same age group. Our sample was collected using records of suicides in the city of Pavia, Italy between the years of 2014 and 2019. This record was cross-referenced with enrolment numbers to the Medical Faculty of the city in order to select cases that involved medical students A time-window of 6 years was chosen for the evaluation. The odds ratio of suicide in medical students in comparison to the general population was of 14.58 (p value at the exact Poisson test <0.001). We then differentiated between native Italians and students from abroad. In this case, an odds ratio of 6.81 was observed (p value at the exact Poisson test 0.011). Our estimated suicide rates exceeded what was previously reported for the general population. We call for a closer attention on mental health in medical students, and an increased effort in collecting objective data on the topic.
尽管近年来人们对医学生的心理健康越来越关注，但关于该主题的流行病学文献却很少，特别是关于自杀的文献。在这里，我们收集了意大利当地一所大学的医学生自杀案例，并将其与同年龄组的普通人群进行了比较。我们的样本是通过意大利帕维亚市 2014 年至 2019 年期间的自杀记录收集的，并与该市医学院的入学人数进行了交叉核对，以选择涉及医学生的案例。评估选择了 6 年的时间窗。与普通人群相比，医学生自杀的优势比为 14.58（确切泊松检验的 p 值<0.001）。然后，我们将意大利本地人和留学生进行了区分。在这种情况下，观察到的优势比为 6.81（确切泊松检验的 p 值为 0.011）。我们估计的自杀率高于先前报告的普通人群的自杀率。我们呼吁更加关注医学生的心理健康，并加大力度收集该主题的客观数据。
