ABSTRACT
University courses generate stress, to the detriment of students’ health and quality of life. A high prevalence of symptoms of depression and emotional disturbances can be identified in university students. Some patients with anxiety and depression fulfill the criteria for functional somatic syndromes (FSS). Thus, it can be observed that FSS is associated with psychosocial factors and stress.
Objective
To verify the prevalence of the FSS in medical students and residents.
Methods
This study involved interviews with 200 3rd and 5th-year medical students from the Universidade de Minas Gerais (UFMG) Medical School, of whom 25 were male and 25 were female in each semester group, as well as 27 residents from the UFMG Clinical Hospital (11 male and 16 female). The volunteers answered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) questionnaires and a questionnaire to verify the presence of FSS.
Results
Women, religious followers of spiritualism, volunteers with the highest scores on the depression questionnaire and those who were in the most advanced semester were found to show association with FSS (p < 0.05). The FSS could be identified in students aged over 24 years (39.4%), with an income of less than 10 minimum wages (53.2%), married (46.7%), with children (80%), among those who had family members who were doctors (40.8%), smokers and alcoholics (58.5%), and students with high anxiety traits (45.6%).
Conclusion
Functional syndromes are common among medical students and residents. These syndromes occurred more often in females and in patients with depression during periods of emotional stress.
Somatoform disorders; Anxiety; Depression; Medical Education; Internship and Residency
