The aim of this study was to examine whether student characteristics affect the risk of health conditions, and explore whether the degree of academic stress affects the level of distress. We surveyed medical students in the Inner Mongolia Medical College China using a questionnaire. A logistic regression analysis was used to ascertain factors associated with distress. The Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test was used to determine the relationship between distress and different academic stress levels. Of the 6044 students completing questionnaires, 47.5% self-reported distressing body symptoms induced by academic stress. Chi square tests showed statistically significant associations between distress and gender, academic stress, and residence; feeling academic stress caused a more than 1.5 times risk of distress. Gender and academic stress were significantly associated with distress in non-conditional binary logistic regression models. Compared with male students, female students was more likely to feel distress. The Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test also showed that the distress rate increased with academic stress and a dose-response relationship between the distress rate and stress level was found. The present study indicates that it is important to reduce academic stress and manage it in order that better outcomes be achieved in regard to distress, especially in females.
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