determining the prevalence of depression and its associated factors in students of shiraz university of medical sciences, iran

background : according to the world health organization, mental disorders are one of ten major causes of disabilities throughout the world. this study aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of depression and to determine its associated factors in students of shiraz university of medical sciences (sums), iran. methods: in this cross-sectional study in 2012, 358 students participated voluntarily. a questionnaire consisted of two parts was used as data collecting tool. in the first part, demographic characteristics, and in the second part, the beck depression inventory standard questionnaire, were included. statistical analysis was performed using spearman correlation, kruskal-wallis and mann-whitney u tests via spss software. findings: mean (standard deviation) of depression score in studied population was 10.98 (8.68). in addition, the prevalence rate of depression among studied students was 45.25% (162 students). there were significant relationships between the score of depression and marital status, academic grade, content of field of study, using psychoactive drugs, job outlook, problem with marriage and religious commitments. conclusion: prevalence of depression in studied students was high. depression had association with personal and educational factors and life style.