News
NEJM Study: Longer Hours Equals Higher Levels of Physician Depression
Nov 1, 2022, 10:03 AM
by
MSDC Staff
The data shows working 90 hours per week leads to a large jump in chance of depression in early career physicians.
A new study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that the grueling schedule of many first-year physicians can lead to higher rates of depression.
The researchers analyzed data on over 17,000 physicians in the Intern Health Study between 2009 and 2020. They looked at the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and compared weekly work hours with the PHQ-9 scores of first year physicians. They found a median score was PHQ-2 and 67 hours worked per week. As the hours increased, so did the percentage scoring in the range indicating depression. Overall about 1/3 of respondents had scores indicating depression once the average hours exceeded 90 hours weekly.