A study of the mental health status of Chinese medical students at risk of COVID-19 infection

Background — The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent changes in health policies may have impacted the mental health of medical students in China. Objective — This study aimed to assess the mental health status of Chinese medical students after adjustments to the country’s pandemic response measures. Methods — We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 872 medical students using several standardized instruments: 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Simplified Coping Styles Questionnaire (SCSQ). Results — The survey revealed that 25.0% of participants had anxiety symptoms, 35.7% had symptoms of depression, and 22.13% had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Significant influencing factors included education level, history of close contact with COVID-19 patients, personal history of infection, and physical health status (p