The Relationship Between Psychological Conditions and Gastrointestinal Symptoms of Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Yuanyuan Su; Ning Lu; Pei Wang; Qian Li; Hua Wen; Jie Zhang; Ling Fan; Jie Li; Zhaoxiang Yu; Manli Cui; Mingxin Zhang

doi:10.2147/NDT.S455418

The Relationship Between Psychological Conditions and Gastrointestinal Symptoms of Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. 2024 May 8:20:937-946. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S455418. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yuanyuan Su^#¹, Ning Lu^#², Pei Wang^#³, Qian Li², Hua Wen², Jie Zhang², Ling Fan², Jie Li², Zhaoxiang Yu⁴, Manli Cui², Mingxin Zhang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Medicine, The People's Hospital of Yubei District of Chongqing, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
³ Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to explore the nexus between students' psychological well-being and the manifestation of gastrointestinal symptoms (GISs) amid the health lockdown enforced in Xi'an, focusing on the student populace of Xi'an Medical College and Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Materials and methods: A survey encompassing psychological parameters and GISs was administered to a randomized cohort of 1327 college students drawn from Xi'an Medical College and Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The survey instrument was developed utilizing the Questionnaire Star platform. Subsequent to data collection, analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 9 and SPSS 22.0.

Results: Comparative analysis revealed statistically significant disparities (P < 0.05) in various GISs between the periods during and preceding the health lockdown, encompassing symptoms such as nausea/vomiting, acid reflux, postprandial fullness/early satiety, anorexia, decreased appetite, bloating, abdominal discomfort, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation. Notably, the mean score for Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) was 3.31±3.92, indicating mild anxiety, while the mean score for Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) was 1.15±1.28, suggesting mild depression. Detailed evaluation of anxiety revealed prevalence rates of 34% among respondents, with 34.2% of these individuals reporting concurrent GISs, while among those evaluated for depression (38.8% of the sample), 44.2% reported concurrent GISs. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis unveiled a negative correlation between GISs during the health lockdown and lifestyle scores, while positive correlations were observed with GISs preceding the lockdown, anxiety, and depression. The formulated multiple linear regression equation for GISs during the health lockdown is delineated as follows: 14.693-0.342 life style + 0.725GISs before health lockdown + 0.218anxiety + 0.564 depression.

Conclusion: This investigation underscores the substantial impact of anxiety and depression on the student body, accentuating their role in precipitating GISs during health lockdown situations. The psychological well-being of medical students during exigent circumstances such as natural disasters warrants heightened attention, necessitating proactive measures aimed at emotional regulation to mitigate the onset of GISs.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; gastrointestinal symptoms; health lockdown.

Grants and funding

The Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Minimally Invasive Diagnosis and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Tumors and Rapid Rehabilitation Research Open Subjects (21SZDSYS16), the Shaanxi Provincial Key R&D Program (2021SF-129) and The Innovation Team of Xi’an Medical University (2021TD15) provided funding for this study.