Prevalence and factors associated with common mental disorders among medical students at a public university

Introduction: The high incidence of common mental disorders (CMD) among medical students in Brazil has been evidenced in other studies. Objective: With this in mind, the authors of this study aimed to develop a model that explains the prevalence of CMD among medical students at a public higher education institution (HEI). Method: 163 medical students at a public HEI answered the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) and the Sociodemographic Questionnaire. The analysis technique was logistic regression. Results: 53.8% of the participants in this study presented signs of CMD. The proposed model suggests that the chances of having CMD decrease for those who are in the clinical cycle or internship (OR = -0.618; p = 0.015), are male (OR = -0.592; p = 0.027), have no family diagnosis of CMD (OR = -0.821; p = 0.000), and have a good relationship with their father (OR = -0.135; p = 0.040), and increase for those who do not perform any physical activity or do it only once a week (OR = 2.763; p = 0.012). On the other hand, the variable quality of the relationship with the mother does not have a significant effect on the chance of having CMD (OR = -0.123; p = 0.278). Conclusion: The worrying indication of CMD among future doctors reinforces the practical implications of this predictive model.