UNIversity students’ LIFEstyle behaviours and Mental health cohort (UNILIFE-M): study protocol of a multicentre, prospective cohort study

Schuch, Felipe B ; Waclawoscky, Aline ; Tornquist, Debora ; Oyeyemi, Adewale L ; Sadarangani, Kabir P ; Takano, Keisuke ; Teychenne, Megan ; Balanzá-Martínez, Vicent ; O’Neil, Adrienne ; Romain, A J ; McGrath, Aisling ; Alselmi, Alejandro ; Andrade-Lima, Aluísio ; Zanetti, Ana Carolina Guidorizzi ; Trompetero-González, Andrea-Catalina ; Heissel, Andreas ; Silva, Angel Fonseca Da ; Benavides, Angela Carolina Zambrano ; Ruusunen, Anu ; Cristi-Montero, Carlos ; Weise, Cornelia ; Pires, Daniel Alvarez ; Silva, Danilo R P ; Pelupessy, Dicky C ; dos Santos, Eduarda Bitencourt ; Caputo, Eduardo Lucia ; Critselis, Elena ; Dragioti, Elena ; Matthews, Evan ; de Jesus-Moraleida, Fabianna Resende ; Gomes, Fabiano Alves ; Bachtiar, Farahdina ; Silva-Junior, Fernando Lopes e ; Sallem, Hebasala ; Moura, Helena ; Womboh, Idoo ; Grabovac, Igor ; Meyer, Jacob D ; Ramos-Diaz, Jano ; Bueno-Antequera, Javier ; de Oliveira, Jênifer ; Deenik, J ; Soto-Sánchez, Johana ; van der Kaap-Deeder, Jolene ; Leo Ng, Jonathan ; López-Gil, José Francisco ; Firth, Joseph ; Teixeira, Julia Amaral ; Nikonov, Juan Ramiro ; Hoyer, Jürgen ; Carneiro, Lara ; Zou, Liye ; Farrer, Louise M ; Woud, Marcella L ; Solmi, Marco ; Guimarães, Maria Eduarda Adornes ; Gerber, Markus ; Reichert, Markus ; Jenkins, Matthew ; Savage, Matthew J ; Hoffmann, Mauricio Scopel ; Hutchesson, Melinda ; Gonzalez Henao, Milton Enrique ; Chong, Moises Jonathan Magos ; Morina, Nexhmedin ; Galvão-Coelho, Nicole L ; Heinrichs, Nina ; Montoya-Hurtado, Olga L ; Ewah, Patrick Ayi ; Salameh, Pascale ; De Boni, Raquel ; Cheung, Rebecca Y M ; Monteiro-Junior, Renato Sobral ; White, Rhiannon Lee ; Haider, Sandra ; Baldew, Se-Sergio ; Gow, Shawn ; Rosenbaum, Simon ; Hallit, Souheil ; Piccinin, Stéfany Giacomelo ; Heinzel, Stephan ; Torres, Susan ; Rashid, Tabassum ; Matias, Thiago Sousa ; Rohe, Tim ; Meireles, Tony ; Reyes-Ferrada, Waleska ; Zhang, Yanjie ; Frei, Anna Katharina ; Deslandes, Andrea ; Wolf, Sebastian

Resumen: Introduction Students enrolling in higher education often adopt lifestyles linked to worse mental health, potentially contributing to the peak age onset of mental health problems in early adulthood. However, extensive research is limited by focusing on single lifestyle behaviours, including single time points, within limited cultural contexts, and focusing on a limited set of mental health symptoms.

Methods and analysis The UNIversity students’ LIFEstyle behaviours and Mental health cohort (UNILIFE-M) is a prospective worldwide cohort study aiming to investigate the associations between students’ lifestyle behaviours and mental health symptoms during their college years. The UNILIFE-M will gather self-reported data through an online survey on mental health symptoms (ie, depression, anxiety, mania, sleep problems, substance abuse, inattention/hyperactivity and obsessive/compulsive thoughts/behaviours) and lifestyle behaviours (ie, diet, physical activity, substance use, stress management, social support, restorative sleep, environment and sedentary behaviour) over 3.5 years. Participants of 69 universities from 28 countries (300 per site) will be assessed at university admission in the 2023 and/or the 2024 academic year and followed up for 1, 2 and 3.5 years.

Ethics and dissemination The study was first approved at a national level in Brazil (CAE:63025822.8.1001.5346). Study sites outside Brazil obtained additional ethics approval from their institutions using the main approval. Results from the UNILIFE-M cohort will be disseminated through scientific publications, presentations at scientific meetings, press releases, the general media and social media.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-085006

Año: 2026

Publicado en: BMJ Open 16, 1 (2026), e085006 [10 pp.]
ISSN: 2044-6055

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)