Quality of life in Brazilian medical students: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Carolina Kakiuthi Martins, Jonas Carneiro Cruz, Renata Dellalibera-Joviliano
Abstract
Introduction
Medical training negatively impacts the quality of life of students. Assessing the well-being of medical students might guide academic policies and future research for improving mental and physical health status of the population at risk.
Objectives
This study aimed to identify the influence of medical training on the quality of life of Brazilian medical students.
Method
A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the Cochrane criteria and reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol. The search was performed by two independent investigators using a predefined protocol registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021237926). Data were extracted from PubMed, EMBASE, and Biblioteca Virtual de Saúde. For quantitative synthesis, a meta-analysis was conducted to assess the mean difference in the quality of life between medical students of different academic cycles stratified by sex. All data were analyzed using the random-effects model, with a confidence interval of 95%.
Results
After evaluating the eligibility criteria, five studies were included in the meta-analysis. The data revealed that students in the pre-clinical cyclee of the course exhibited higher quality of life scores in the physical (3.05 [1.48, 4.62], p< 0.0001) and psychological (3.05 [0.80, 5.30], p< 0.0001) domains than students in the clerkship cycle. No statistically significant difference was observed in the environmental (0.78 [-2.92, 4.49], p =0.68]) and social domains (1.41 [-0.52, 3.34], p =0.15).
Conclusion
Our analysis revealed that the medical course is associated with a decreased quality of life in the physical and psychological domains of medical students. This finding was observed in both men and women. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution given the limitations of this study.
Keywords
Submitted date:
03/08/2022
Accepted date:
07/27/2022