Healthy lifestyle and factors affecting the health status of medical students

Introduction. The health of medical students is influenced by social, economic, and medical factors. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the basis for physical and mental well-being.

Purpose of the study is to assess the factors influencing the health of medical university students.

Materials and methods. The analysis of the presence of socio-economic and medical factors affecting the health status of three hundred twenty one Russian 5–6 year student of the medical university was carried out through an anonymous face-to-face survey conducted with their informed voluntary consent in 2022–2025, among which there were 78 male and 243 female students.

Results. The following social risk factors were identified: 12.8% lived in a dormitory, 41.4% did not receive a scholarship, 10.3% had loan debts, 65.1% of students combined study with work in medical institutions, with 29.6% working 3 or more times a week and having an unbalanced work and rest schedule. 48.9% of students ate irregularly but of good quality, and 18.4% rated their nutrition as irregular and of poor quality, with an insufficient amount of protein. 38.9% did not exercise, 19.9% ​​smoked tobacco products, 9.7% of students drank alcohol once a week. Analysis of medical risk factors showed 15.0% of students to have chronic somatic diseases, 38.9% were in constant psycho-emotional stress.

Research limitations. Medical university students, citizens of Russia.

Conclusion. Raising the level of knowledge about the principles of a healthy lifestyle through educational work and managing health events are the most important tasks of the medical university.

Compliance with ethical standards. This article complies with the ethical standards set forth in the Declaration of Helsinki and respects the rights and well-being of the participants. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the N.N. Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University (Protocol No. 1, dated February 17, 2026).

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: May 7, 2025 / Revised: July 3, 2025 / Accepted: February 19, 2026 / Published: April 30, 2026