We investigated whether burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced professional efficacy) is a risk factor for traffic accidents. A prospective cohort study was conducted with 509 school teachers. The teachers were interviewed in 2012-2013, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory was applied. After 2 years, the teachers were interviewed again to determine the occurrence of traffic accidents. Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to adjust the analyses. Relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were calculated to assess changes in c-units in the scores of each Burnout dimension, with c equal to 1, 5 and 10 units. The incidence rate of road traffic accidents at follow-up was 10.8%. After adjustments for sex, age, high workload/exposure to the traffic environment, daily consumption of alcoholic beverages and the other dimensions of burnout, depersonalization was a risk factor for traffic accidents. For each 1- and 10-point increase in the depersonalization score, the risk increased by 8 and 119%, respectively. Emotional exhaustion was not associated with these accidents. Increases in the professional efficacy score increased the risk of traffic accidents. The association of depersonalization with future road traffic accidents reinforces the need for measures to improve teachers' work conditions to reduce burnout.
Keywords: burnout; depersonalization; prospective studies; teachers; traffic accidents.
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