Does ragging play a role in medical student depression - cause or effect?

BACKGROUND: Medical students experience a lot of stress what may contribute to symptoms of depression. In this study we set out to look at the environmental factors which may be contributing in one medical school in Brazil.

METHODS: We assessed depressive symptoms using Beck's Depression Inventory in 465 and 267 medical students in 2001 and 2006 respectively. We explored possible social and environmental causes using qualitative data.

RESULTS: Nearly 15% scored above the cut off for depression in both the samples. Males in the pre-clinical stage in 2006 showed an increase in depressive symptoms than males in the same cycle in 2001 (aOR=7.36 [95% CI=0.85-63.5] p=0.07). Qualitative data confirmed that factors such as ragging and low social involvement were correlated with depressive symptoms in pre-clinical stage males.

LIMITATIONS: The sample size was small both for quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study.

CONCLUSIONS: It appears that ragging plays an important role in the genesis of depressive symptoms in medical students.