{
  "abstract": "Background: Anxiety is common among health science students, but the Balkan region is underrepresented in student mental health research and no regional synthesis exists. This systematic review and meta-analysis estimated the pooled prevalence of anxiety among medical, dental and nursing students in selected Balkan countries. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 and a PROSPERO registration (CRD420261332221), PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched for English-language observational studies in eleven Balkan countries that assessed anxiety with a validated instrument. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data and appraised quality (JBI). Prevalence was pooled with a DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model after Freeman-Tukey transformation, with prediction intervals and exploratory subgroup and sensitivity analyses. Results: Nine cross-sectional studies (N = 5177) from Croatia, Romania, Greece, Kosovo and Serbia were included. The pooled prevalence of anxiety at or above moderate severity was 27.5% (95% CI: 20.2–35.5%), with very high heterogeneity (I2 = 97.1%; 95% prediction interval 5.3–58.6%). Leave-one-out analyses (26.0–29.4%) and alternative estimators (26.9–27.5%) gave similar estimates. Subgroup analyses were exploratory. Conclusions: The pooled prevalence is an average across heterogeneous studies, not a regional benchmark. The evidence is limited to English-language studies from five of eleven countries, and the findings are preliminary. Harmonised primary research is needed.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Morphological and Functional Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, 800008 Galati, Romania",
    "Clinical Medical Department, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, 800008 Galati, Romania",
    "“Dr. Aristide Serfioti” Military Emergency Hospital, 800008 Galati, Romania",
    "Discipline of Endocrinology, Department 5, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania",
    "Pediatrics Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania",
    "Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, 800008 Galati, Romania",
    "2nd Department, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, 200349 Craiova, Romania"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Cătălin Pleșea-Condratovici",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3111-4089"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Constantin-Marinel Vlase",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0081-2856"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Ionuț-Silviu Vasile"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Aritina-Elvira Moroșanu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Manuela Arbune",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4762-0755"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Petruț-Ștefan Șerban"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Răzvan Cosmin Pană"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/brtn3ka1d2xrx.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/jcm15218566",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "brtn3ka1d2xrx",
  "issns": [
    "2077-0383"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8566",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/brtn3ka1d2xrx.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:21:42Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/jcm15218566",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/21/8566"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "journal-openalex:F27",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Prevalence of Anxiety Among Medical, Dental, and Nursing Students in Selected Balkan Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis",
  "title_text": "Prevalence of Anxiety Among Medical, Dental, and Nursing Students in Selected Balkan Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-06T00:21:25Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/brtn3ka1d2xrx",
  "venue": "Journal of Clinical Medicine",
  "versions": []
}