Why the study?
The proportion of vigorous physical activity within total physical activity and its associations with depressive symptoms and other factors among sufficiently active medical students remain underexplored.
Are depressive symptoms and sociodemographic factors associated with the proportion of vigorous physical activity among active medical students?
Population
656 sufficiently active fifth-year medical students from five universities in Serbia
Comparison
No VPA contribution vs low-to-moderate and higher VPA contribution within total PA
Design
Cross-sectional secondary analysis
Key result
Higher depressive symptom scores were associated with lower odds of having a low-to-moderate proportion of vigorous physical activity compared to no vigorous physical activity (OR 0.93).
Authors
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Depressive symptoms associated with lower vigorous activity proportion in active students; extends total-volume research but leaves open causality and clinical relevance.
Cross-Sectional (n=656)
Yes
Are depressive symptoms and sociodemographic factors associated with the proportion of vigorous physical activity among active medical students?
Odds Ratio: 0.93 (95% CI 0.86–0.99)
Among active medical students, depressive symptoms are associated with differences in the distribution of vigorous physical activity within total physical activity.
Stratakis et al. (2026) conducted a cross-sectional in Sufficiently active medical students (n=656). Depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 score) vs. 0% vigorous physical activity (VPA) group was evaluated on Belonging to the 0.01%-30% VPA group compared to the 0% VPA group (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.86-0.99). Higher depressive symptom scores were associated with lower odds of having a low-to-moderate proportion of vigorous physical activity compared to no vigorous physical activity (OR 0.93).