Association between mental health, study habits and academic performance in undergraduate medicine students

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health disorders in adolescents and children are the main cause of Disability-Adjusted lost
of life years, all these disorders are present in medical students, along with alterations of study habits, and should
influence the student’s academic performance. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in
students of 5th semester of the medical school, for the association between mental health disorders, study habits with
and the academic performance. Five scales of mental health disorders and one of study habits were applied digitally.
Previous informed consent. Results: We included 364 students with a mean age of 20.9+/-2.2 years, being 54 %
male. 17.5 % of patients with attention deficit disorder, 1.7 % with anxiety, 0.3 % with depression, 10.4 to 12.2 %
of procrastination and alterations in eating habits were detected in 18.9 %. Only the presence of Attention Deficit Disorder was associated with a reduction in the student’s grade point with an average of 0.43 units (8.22+/-0.77 vs 7.79+/-0.79, p=0.021) Conclusion: Mental health disorders have a high frequency in medical students, the most important being attention deficit which decreases academic performance.