INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered several challenges on the front of mental health. Undergraduate medical students face considerable stress in their academic routines. Thus, there is a need to explore the implications for the mental health of undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE

To review the global literature about anxiety and depressive disorders in undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

We developed an integrative literature review on the occurrence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included the manuscripts that used the PHQ-9 and/or GAD-7 questionnaires. We excluded systematic reviews, narrative reviews, integrative reviews, meta-analyses, and qualitative analytical studies. We assessed the results on the occurrence of anxiety and depression and the severity of symptoms in medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic using quantitative studies applying the GAD-7 questionnaire for anxiety or the PHQ-9 for depression.

RESULTS

We reviewed 85 selected studies, and the results showed a significant prevalence of moderate and severe symptoms of anxiety and depression, with 28.2% of participants presenting scores of ≥10 on the GAD-7 and 38.9% on the PHQ-9. Statistical analyses using simple and multiple regression tests revealed associations between higher rates of anxiety symptoms among students from developing countries and data collected after the lockdown period in 2020 during the pandemic lockdown. In addition, female students were at risk of depressive disorders. We emphasize as a limitation that the diagnosis of depression and anxiety requires a detailed clinical evaluation, which is not focused on in this actual study.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlight the need for specific interventions to support the mental health of undergraduate medical students, especially female students from developing countries, during a pandemic crisis.