{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T22:21:51Z","timestamp":1790202111860,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,14]],"date-time":"2020-07-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1594684800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["81673232"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81673232"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004826","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["7202009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["7202009"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004826","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["P30MH062294"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P30MH062294"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.mdpi.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, harsh social distancing measures were taken in China to contain viral spread. We examined their impact on the lives of medical students. Methods: A nation-wide cross-sectional survey of college students was conducted from 4\u201312 February 2020. We enrolled medical students studying public health in Beijing and Wuhan to assess their COVID-19 awareness and to evaluate their mental health status\/behaviors using a self-administered questionnaire. We used the Patient Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 and Health Questionnaire-9 to measure anxiety disorders and depression. We used multivariable logistic regression and path analysis to assess the associations between covariates and anxiety disorder\/depression. Results: Of 933 students, 898 (96.2%) reported wearing masks frequently when going out, 723 (77.5%) reported daily handwashing with soap, 676 (72.5%) washed hands immediately after arriving home, and 914 (98.0%) reported staying home as much as possible. Prevalence of anxiety disorder was 17.1% and depression was 25.3%. Multivariable logistic regression showed anxiety to be associated with graduate student status (odds ratio (aOR) = 2.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2\u20133.5), negative thoughts or actions (aOR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.4\u20131.7), and feeling depressed (aOR = 6.8; 95% CI: 4.0\u201311.7). Beijing students were significantly less likely to have anxiety than those in the Wuhan epicenter (aOR = 0.9; 95% CI: 0.8\u20131.0), but depression did not differ. Depression was associated with female students (aOR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.2\u20133.3), negative thoughts or actions (aOR = 1.7; 95% CI: 1.5\u20131.9), and anxiety disorder (aOR = 5.8; 95% CI: 3.4\u20139.9). Path analysis validated these same predictors. Conclusions: Despite medical students\u2019 knowledge of disease control and prevention, their lives were greatly affected by social distancing, especially in the Wuhan epicenter. Even well-informed students needed psychological support during these extraordinarily stressful times.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17145047","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,14]],"date-time":"2020-07-14T09:30:49Z","timestamp":1594719049000},"page":"5047","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":136,"title":["Social Distancing among Medical Students during the 2019 Coronavirus Disease Pandemic in China: Disease Awareness, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and Behavioral Activities"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Huidi","family":"Xiao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wen","family":"Shu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0033-6933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Menglong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fangbiao","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yizhen","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Women Health Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heng","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Women Health Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7289-8698","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sten H.","family":"Vermund","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT 06520, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4611-2206","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yifei","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,7,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"m408","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.m408","article-title":"China coronavirus: WHO declares international emergency as death toll exceeds 200","volume":"368","author":"Mahase","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"WHO (2020, June 22). 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