Objective:

To describe the prevalence of perceived general health and its association to academic burnout syndrome and suicide ideation in university students of a public institution in the city of Santa Marta.

Method:

A cross-sectional observational study with analytical component was conducted in a sample of 807 students from a public university, who answered the general health scale (GHQ), the academic burnout inventory (MBI-SS) and the suicide ideation scale (CES-D-IS).

Results:

They showed 60 % of the participants were women between the ages of 18 and 47,28 % reported an impairment in their perceived general health. Suicidal ideation (OR = 3,16; IC 95 % 1,82 5,49), exhaustion (OR = 2,22; IC 95 % 1,51-3,25), cynicism (OR = 1,61; IC 95 % 1,142,28), and academic inefficacy (OR = 1,60; IC 95 % 1,122,28) were associated with perceived general malaise.

Conclusions:

Suicidal ideation, and burnout dimensions (exhaustion, cynicism and academic inefficiency) are risk factors for perceived general health in university students. More research is needed on the role of contextual variables in the general health of university students.

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