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Depression among ophthalmologists correlates with caseload, years of practice
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ORLANDO, Fla. — An ophthalmologist’s caseload and experience level may be directly related to the amount of stress he or she feels, a study indicates.
Kenneth C. Dhimitri, MS, PT, Paul Lee, JD, and colleagues conducted a mail survey of ophthalmologists in the northeast region of the United States to evaluate 1-month prevalence rates of self-reported depression and stress. Results of the survey were detailed in a poster presented here during the joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology.
Of 697 respondents, 4.8% reported experiencing depression. According to the study, depression was correlated with increasing years of practice (P = .0001). Of those who responded, 5.9% reported feeling stressed. Stress correlated with increasing numbers of patients seen per week (P = .0001), the number of surgeries performed per week (P = .006) and the number of laser procedures performed per week (P = .0001).
Surgeons who had been practicing less than 20 years were 2.7 times more likely to report stress (P < .0001) than those who had been practicing more than 20 years. Stress levels increased to maximum values at 12 and 17 years of practice.
Surgeons who saw more than 100 patients each week were nearly 1.5 times more likely to report feeling stressed (P = .0038) than those who saw fewer than 100 patients weekly.