ArticleBMJ open2019
Prevalence and relationship between burnout and depression in our future doctors: a cross-sectional study in a cohort of preclinical and clinical medical students in Ireland.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Is There a Burnout Epidemic among Medical Students? Results from a Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Pooled it
- A cluster randomised crossover trial of single resilience and professionalism tutorials among undergraduate medical students.Medical education online · 2025Trial
- Burnout among medical students of a medical college in Kathmandu; A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Psychometric Assessment of the Vietnamese Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey and Associated Factors Among Health Sciences Students.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2026Article
- Healthcare utilization, preventive care, and structural barriers among medical students at a three-campus U.S. medical school.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Responsiveness of the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory for Medical Students and Predictors of Sustained Burnout during Clinical Clerkships: A Five-Wave Longitudinal Cohort Study.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Association between medical students' psychological distress and intention to practice.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Structured peer engagement for early-stage medical students provides a safe space and creates a sense of community, combatting imposter syndrome and improving wellbeing.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Factors associated with burnout among the Belgrade University medical students.Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju · 2025Article
- Article
- People with symptoms of depression and those at significant risk of suicide show differences in their personality profile and sense of meaning in life.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Article
- Creating a Culture of Teaching and Learning.Medical science educator · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 on Academic Burnout among Medical College Students in China: Findings from a Web-Based Survey.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2024Article
- Latinas in medicine: evaluating and understanding the experience of Latinas in medical education: a cross sectional survey.BMC medical education · 2024Article
- High risk of burnout syndrome and associated factors in medical students: A cross-sectional analytical study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Depression and Anxiety among Undergraduate Health Science Students: A Scoping Review of the Literature.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The relationship between the burnout syndrome and academic success of medical students: a cross-sectional study.Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju · 2023Article
- Article
- Depression and Burnout among Health Extension Workers in Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis cross-sectional study was designed to measure burnout and its impact on risk of depression in a medical student population, comparing the preclinical and clinical years.
designWe conducted a survey of 269 medical school students in both preclinical and clinical years at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, using the Beck Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS), the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey and items assessing willingness to use mental health services. Burnout scores were calibrated to probability of depression caseness and classified as low risk (<25%), intermediate (25%-50%) and high risk (>50%) of depression.
resultsThere was a 39% (95% CI 33% to 45%) prevalence of depressive caseness based on a score of ≥6 on the BDI-FS. Prevalence did not vary significantly between clinical and preclinical years. The rate of burnout varied significantly between years (p=0.032), with 35% in the high-burnout category in clinical years compared with 26% in preclinical years. Those in the low burnout category had a 13% overall prevalence of depressive symptoms, those in the intermediate category had a 38% prevalence and those in the high category had a 66% prevalence of depressive symptoms. Increasing emotional exhaustion (OR for one-tertile increase in score 2.0, p=0.011) and decreasing academic efficacy (OR 2.1, p=0.007) increased the odds of being unwilling to seek help for mental health problems (11%).
conclusionWhile previous studies have reported significant levels of burnout and depression, our method of calibrating burnout against depression allows burnout scores to be interpreted in terms of their impact on mental health. The high prevalences, in line with previous research, point to an urgent need to rethink the psychological pressures of health professions education.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.