RESUMEN
The stigma associated with mental illness is a global public health problem3, having worse consequences than the disorders themselves4. The objective of this study is to review the literature on the stigma towards mental illness in medical students and know about its presence.METHODSFollowing the PRISMA9 methodology, a systematic review is carried out in PubMed, Web of Science (WOS) and Cochrane Library. We proceed to the reading of the abstracts of a total of 67 manuscripts, 38 of which are excluded because they do not comply with the parameters that are the object of the study. Additionally, 9 relevant articles of associated searches are reviewed.RESULTSA total of 38 manuscripts containing a participation of 18,808 medical students are evaluated. The publications come from 20 countries worldwide, without a representative predominance of any of them, led by Great Britain and Canada. 87% of the publications are concentrated in the last 8 years, showing the increase and continued presence of research.CONCLUSIONSThe existence of stigma towards mental illness among the target population is corroborated in 97% of the literature. This is a heterogeneous field of study with few studies with large sample sizes. More research is needed to identify interventions which will produce a long-term change in behaviour to reduce stigma among medical students.