Socio-Epidemiological Characterization of Medical Students and Its Influence on Academic Outcomes

Aguirre-Fernández R.E.; Marín-Pérez A.L.; Gálvez-Díaz N.D.C.; Chu-Lee Á.J.; Cárdenas-López O.E.; Jara-Guerrero E.R. · Revista Medica Electronica (2026)

Resumen

Introduction: Socio-epidemiological variables have been considered to analyze their influence on academic performance of medical students; however, they have not been studied jointly in Ecuadorian and Peruvian universities. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between epidemiological and social factors of medical students from two universities in Ecuador and one in Peru, and their academic performance, in order to propose recommendations to minimize unfavorable factors in the current Latin American university context. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 762 medical students from the first to the tenth semester, from the Technical University of Machala, the Technical University of Manabí, and the University Señor de Sipán (Peru). Univariate analysis was performed, and the variables were compared with the academic outcomes through multiple linear regression. For qualitative variables, the Spearman's coefficient was calculated, and the significant ones were incorporated into a new model. Results: Quantitative variables did not show statistically significant influence on the variability of academic results. However, working to support one self, the history of chronic diseases, participation in teaching projects, marital status and the availability of study resources were significant. These findings suggest the usefulness of incorporating psychological and pedagogical variables in addition to social and epidemiological variables into future research. Conclusions: Socioeconomic variables should be considered as factors related with the variability of grades in medical students; however, it is necessary to explore, in an integrative manner, other academic, psychological and institutional factors for a holistic evaluation of academic performance. Los artículos de Revista Médica Electrónica de la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Matanzas se comparten bajo los términos de la Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0.

Instituciones: Universidad Señor de Sipán