Evaluation of Anxiety, Depression, and Biological Markers in Health Professionals with Burnout

Abstract

Introduction: Medical profession is a stress factor for the development of burnout, symptoms of anxiety and depression as a result of 24-hour work, delayed work-life balance gratification and challenges associated with patient care.

Aim: This study aimed to verify the rates of burnout, anxiety, and depression presented by health professionals working 24-hour shifts under emergency conditions. Saliva cortisol and glycated hemoglobin were also studied as stress-related biomarkers.

Materials and methods: Ninety-five medical professionals - physicians, biologists, chemists, and laboratory technicians were compared to a control group working outside medicine. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Anxiety and depression were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Zung Depression Scale. Salivary cortisol and glycated hemoglobin were analyzed by the immunoassay methods.

Results: The level of burnout in the subscale of emotional exhaustion was high in 95.6% of medical professionals. In the subscale of personal accomplishment, 100% had high scores. Regarding the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, 22.2% and 68.9% of the medical specialists showed a positive score (≥40) for S-anxiety and T-anxiety scale, respectively. 11.1% indicated greater anxiety (score ≥ 55) for T-anxiety. In relation to the depression scale, 31.1% had mildly depressive states and 8.9% had moderately depressive states. Participants with a high level of emotional exhaustion presented higher results for saliva cortisol and glycated hemoglobin compared to the control group. A significant positive correlation existed between the two dimensions - emotional exhaustion and depression (r=0.683, p<0.01).

Conclusions: Our study may be relevant for further research in order to decrease the negative aspects of professional stress.

Keywords: anxiety; burnout; depression; stress-related biomarkers.