ArticleBMC medical education2018
The relationship between long working hours and depression among first-year residents in Japan.
Article in BMC medical education, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Effect of Long Working Hours and Overtime on Occupational Health: A Meta-Analysis of Evidence from 1998 to 2018.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Prevalence of Burnout in Medical and Surgical Residents: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Pooled it
- Effect of internet-based attention bias modification on the anxiety of Japanese workers: A randomized controlled trial.Journal of occupational health · 2021Trial
- Prevalence and factors associated with depression among junior police officers in Kampala metropolitan area.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Within-person differences in night-shift burden and well-being after ICU versus non-ICU night shifts among resident physicians: a paired survey study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Surgery as a greedy job: The valorization of the worker's professionalism for women in surgery.Surgery open science · 2026Review
- Associations between patient care ownership, burnout, and job satisfaction among medical residents: a nationwide cross-sectional study in Japan.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Routine Histopreparations After Tonsillectomy, Tonsillotomy, Adenotomy or Conchotomy: A Necessary Diagnosis in Times of Dwindling Resources?Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- [Work-related fatigue in anesthesia and intensive care medicine : Review article on a structural problem].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2026Review
- Assessing health, wellbeing, and working life impacts of a 4-day week: a multimodal protocol.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Working hours and depression in the HEAF cohort.Occupational medicine (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Association between grit at the start of residency and depressive symptoms at the end of residency among postgraduate year 1 medical residents in Japan: a longitudinal study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Findings of the Resident Workload Using Mobile Application in Japan.JMA journal · 2025Article
- Gender differences of the association between work-related stressors and mental health among Chinese medical professionals: a nationwide cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Causal effects of promotion to managerial positions on mental health and satisfaction in Japanese male workers.International archives of occupational and environmental health · 2025Article
- Association between personal characteristics and anxiety and burnout in orthopedic residents: a cross-sectional cross-sectional study.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2024Article
- The association of long working hours and short sleep duration on mental health among Japanese physicians.Industrial health · 2024Article
- Impact of Long Working Hours on Mental Health Status in Japan: Evidence from a National Representative Survey.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Association of sleep quality with duty hours, mental health, and medical errors among Japanese postgraduate residents: a cross-sectional study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Beyond working hours: the association between long working hours, the use of work-related communication devices outside regular working hours, and anxiety symptoms.Journal of occupational health · 2024Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn Japan, some residents develop mental health problems. In previous studies, it was reported that long working hours might be a cause of stress reaction such as depression. There were some reports that compared residents with 80 or more working hours with those with less than 80 working hours. However, many residents are practically detained for extra-long time, designated as 100 h or more per week, for medical practice, training, self-study, etc. There have been few reports on extra-long hours of work. This study evaluated the working environment and the amount of stress experienced by first-year residents, and examined the relationship between long working hours and depression, especially in the group of extra-long working hours.
methodsThe study included 1241 first-year residents employed at 250 training hospitals in 2011. A self-report questionnaire was administered at the beginning of the residency and 3 months later to collect data on demographics, depressive symptoms, and training conditions (e.g., duration of work, sleep, disposable time, and night shift). Depressive symptoms were rated using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.
resultsThe mean duration of work per week was 79.4 h, with 97 residents (7.8%) working 100 h or more. At 3 months, clinically significant depressive symptoms were reported by 45.5% of residents working 100 or more h per week, which proportion was significantly greater than that for respondents working less than 60 h (P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a working week of 80 to 99.9 h was associated with a 2.83 fold higher risk and 100 h or more was associated with a 6.96-fold higher risk of developing depressive symptoms compared with a working week of less than 60 h.
conclusionWorking excessively long hours was significantly associated with development of depressive symptoms. Proper management of resident physicians' working hours is critical to maintaining their physical and mental health and to improve the quality of care they provide.
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