Objectives:

To determine the frequency of depression and anxiety among Latin American medical students during social distancing in the COVID-19 outbreak period.

Methods:

Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional design, the study included all Latin American medical students affiliated to the Federación Latinoamericana de Sociedades Científicas de Estudiantes de Medicina (FELSOCEM) selected through non-probabilistic convenience sampling who agreed to participate in the study. Data was collected through a questionnaire, consisting primarily of socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, and country of origin; as a second section, the Goldberg depression and anxiety test was applied, and an analysis was carried out by the nature of the variables. The research protocol was approved by an institutional ethics committee.

Results:

Of 1579 participating students, from 15 Latin American countries, 68.59% (1083) were women, 65.04% (1027) were between 20 and 24 years old, 95.63% (1510) were single, 23.18% (366) lived in Panama and 11.08% (175) in Chile. 87.14% (1376) have symptoms of anxiety, 66.88% (1056) have symptoms of depression and 64.34% (1016) have both symptoms.

Conclusions:

A high percentage of medical students in Latin American population suffered symptoms of anxiety and depression during the social distancing measures in the covid-19 outbreak period, data that must be taken into account for future mental health strategies.

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