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Nearly one-third of resident physicians are depressed

A systematic review of studies on depression prevalence among resident physicians estimated that 28.8% were depressed during their residency, according to data published in JAMA.

"Studies have suggested that resident physicians experience higher rates of depression than the general public," Douglas A. Mata, MD, MPH, a resident physician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard University in Boston, and colleagues wrote. "Beyond the effects of depression on individuals, resident depression has been linked to poor-quality patient care and increased medical errors."

The researchers reviewed longitudinal and cross-sectional studies on depression among resident physicians and interns published between January 1963 and September 2015. The studies were identified from several databases, including EMBASE, ERIC, MEDLINE and PsycINFO. The final group of studies consisted of 31 cross-sectional studies and 23 longitudinal studies which involved 17,560 total participants.

Results showed a summary depression prevalence of 28.8% (4,969 participants; 95% CI, 25.3-32.5). Mata and colleagues reported that prevalence estimates ranged from 20.9% for the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire with a cutoff of 10 or more (741/3,577 individuals; 95% CI, 17.5-24.7) to 43.2% for the 2-item PRIME-MD (1,349/2,891 individuals; 95% CI, 37.6-49.0).

Additionally, depression prevalence increased each year (slope = 0.5% per calendar-year increase; 95% CI, 0.03-0.9; P = .04) and with onset of residency training (median absolute increase = 15.8%, range = 0.3-23.3; relative risk = 4.5).

"Because the development of depression has been linked to a higher risk of future depressive episodes and greater long-term morbidity, these findings may affect the long-term health of resident doctors," Mata and colleagues wrote. "Depression among residents may also affect patients, given established associations between physician depression and lower-quality care. These findings highlight an important issue in graduate medical education." – by Chelsea Frajerman Pardes

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.