Department of Neurology, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College, No. 1 Shuaifuyuan, Wangfujing, Beijing, 100730, China.
Center for Prevention and Early Intervention, National Infrastructures for Translational Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine & Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
BMC Med Educ. 2024 Nov 9;24(1):1286. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06303-3.
Neurophobia is a global phenomenon, that influences both medical students and postgraduate trainees. We aimed to analyze the prevalence of neurophobia by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on neurophobia, and potential associated risk factors.
The search was done in the PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus databases for studies reporting neurophobia among medical students and young doctors for the period up to March 18, 2024. The overall prevalence and scores of four subcomponents of neurophobia were pooled. The potential heterogeneity was tested through meta-regression/subgroup analyses/influence analysis.
Twenty-four studies from 30 countries met the inclusion criteria and involved 10,395 responding individuals. The estimated overall pooled prevalence of neurophobia was 46% (95%CI, 35-57%; I = 98%). The result of the meta-regression revealed that geographic region was significantly associated with the prevalence (p = 0.006). The pooled scores of the four subcomponents of neurophobia were: difficulty 3.79 (95%CI, 3.47-4.12, I = 99%), confidence 2.81 (95%CI, 2.39-3.24, I = 99.5%), interest 3.22 (95%CI, 2.84-3.61, I = 99.6%), and knowledge 2.73 (95%CI, 2.39-3.06, I = 98.1%).
Neurophobia was widely prevalent among medical students and young doctors. The high prevalence and severity highlight the need for targeted interventions to reduce neurophobia.
神经恐惧症是一种全球性现象，影响着医学生和研究生。我们旨在通过对神经恐惧症的研究进行系统回顾和荟萃分析，分析其流行率，并探讨潜在的相关危险因素。
在 PubMed、EMBASE 和 Scopus 数据库中检索截至 2024 年 3 月 18 日期间报道医学生和年轻医生神经恐惧症的研究。汇总了神经恐惧症四个亚成分的总体患病率和评分。通过荟萃回归/亚组分析/影响分析来检验潜在的异质性。
来自 30 个国家的 24 项研究符合纳入标准，涉及 10395 名应答者。神经恐惧症的总体估计患病率为 46%（95%CI，35-57%；I=98%）。荟萃回归的结果表明，地理位置与患病率显著相关（p=0.006）。神经恐惧症四个亚成分的评分汇总结果为：困难程度 3.79（95%CI，3.47-4.12，I=99%）、信心 2.81（95%CI，2.39-3.24，I=99.5%）、兴趣 3.22（95%CI，2.84-3.61，I=99.6%）和知识 2.73（95%CI，2.39-3.06，I=98.1%）。
神经恐惧症在医学生和年轻医生中广泛流行。如此高的患病率和严重程度表明，需要采取有针对性的干预措施来减少神经恐惧症。
