Sustainable UNiversity Life (SUN) Study

In 2017, Socialstyrelsen reported that mental ill-health in young adults had increased by almost 70% in the previous10 years. A 2014 report showed that 5% of men and 11% of women 18-24 years were diagnosed with depression or anxiety in Stockholm County. Furthermore, 41% of women 21-24 years have self reported psychological distress. Regarding pain, 28% of men and 36% of women 16-24 years have disabling neck pain. Little is known about the etiology and prognosis of poor mental health in university students. The aim is to advance knowledge about the etiology of depression, anxiety, stress and pain in undergraduate university students. The investigators will study a cohort of students at full-year programs at universities in the Stockholm area. Primary research questions are whether modifiable factors such as sleep quality, lifestyle, screen time and work environment are independent risk factors for incident episodes or unfavorable trajectories of depression, anxiety and pain in men and women? To be able to answer these research questions we designed a prospective cohort study targeting 5000 university students.