Prevalence and asociated factors WITH depresive symptoms in Health Sciences students from a private university in Lima, Peru 2010.

Agradecimientos: Al Dr. Percy Mayta-Tristán por su asesoramiento durante el desarrollo de la investigación. A la Dra. Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica. 2010; 27(4): 520-26. Síntomas depresivos en estudiantes de ciencias de las salud 526 Claudia Mory Arciniega, por el apoyo durante la recolección de datos; al Dr. Luis Alfonso Díaz, por su disposición y orientación en la elección del instrumento y a María Gracia Pereda por su apoyo en la digitación de la base de datos.Este trabajo fue presentado al XXIV Congreso Científico Nacional de Estudiantes de Medicina, Arequipa 2010, organizado por la Sociedad Científica Médica Estudiantil Peruana (SOCIMEP).Introduction. Depressive symptoms in health sciences students are common, these might be potentially detrimental. Objectives. To determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and its associated factors in students from the Health Sciences Faculty of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima (Peru), June 2010. Materials and methods. Cross-sectional analytic study; a pre-consented survey was applied to the population 590/869 students. Zung’s abbreviated scale was used to measure depressive symptoms. To evaluate de associated factors, logistic regression was used, p0.05). In the multivariate analysis, significant statistical association was found between depressive symptoms and dissatisfaction with the own academic performance (OR=2.13 CI95%1.47-3.08), dissatisfaction with the current economic status (OR=1.93 CI95%1.24-2.99) and living with a relative external to the nuclear family (OR=1.62 CI95%1.07-2.45). Conclusion. A high prevalence of depressive symptoms was found, especially in medical students; being dissatisfaction with academic performance, economic status and living with a relative external to the nuclear family associated factors that could be taken into account in order to build preventive programs.Revisión por pares