Work

College student symptoms as assessed by a student health survey

Year: 2020

Type: article

Abstract: Objective We sought to identify the general health of college students.Participants A total of 4402 university freshmen and sophomores were recruited to report their general health through an online questionnaire.Methods Responses from the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire were analyzed. We then conducted latent class analyses to evaluate 54 different symptoms among participants.Results A four class solution was identified, consisting of a group of asymptomatic students (35.65%), a second group of students reporting mild fatigue and sleep symptoms (38.87%), a third group reporting moderate sleep and fatigue symptoms (20.36%), and a group reporting moderate and severe complaints on the majority of symptoms (5.11%). Female students had 2.07 times the relative risk of the severe symptom class of men. Indigenous students have 2.88 times the relative risk of occupying the severe symptom class than non-indigenous students.Conclusions The results suggest that about 5% of college students have varied symptoms of a moderate to severe degree. Future research is needed to better assess whether there are biological associations with these self-report findings, as well as to determine longer-term implications of these symptoms.

Source: Journal of American College Health

DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2020.1845705

Authors: Joseph Cotler, Ben Z. Katz, Chelsea Torres, Leonard A. Jason

Institutions: DePaul University, Northwestern University

Language: English

Topic: Health and Lifestyle Studies

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke