HK doctors’ mental HRQoL significantly worse than the general population

Doctors in Hong Kong have significantly poorer mental health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than the general population, with high rates of depression and burnout, a survey has shown.

The survey, conducted between 29 January and 15 April 2016, included 309 doctors (mean age, 33.0 years; female, 43.7 percent) who graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1995–2014. They completed a questionnaire that included the Short Form-12 Item Health Survey version 2 (SF-12 v2) to assess physical and mental HRQoL, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) to measure burnout, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to screen for depression, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test version C (AUDIT-C) to screen for at-risk drinking, as well as questions on job satisfaction, health status, and lifestyle behaviours. [PLoS One 2023;18:e0284253]

“Most respondents indicated that they were satisfied with their current job position [77.7 percent] and career choice as a doctor [94.8 percent],” the researchers reported.

However, 15.2 percent of the respondents had depression, as indicated by a PHQ-9 score of >9. The mean PHQ-9 score was 5.3.

Burnout was prevalent, with 63.4 percent of the respondents reporting personal burnout, 57.9 percent reporting work-related burnout, and 35.9 percent reporting patient-related burnout. Mean CBI scores in these domains were 58.1, 49.2, and 43.0, respectively.

At-risk drinking was identified in 15.2 percent of the respondents. The mean number of chronic illnesses was 0.2, and 77.7 percent of the respondents exercised regularly.

Mental HRQoL was significantly worse in doctors compared with the age- and sex-adjusted general population of Hong Kong (SF-12 v2 mental component scale score, 43.6 vs 48.6; p<0.001; effect size, 0.48). However, physical HRQoL did not differ significantly between doctors and the general population (SF-12 v2 physical component scale score, 53.2 vs 52.5; p=0.142; effect size, 0.10).

Doctors scored significantly worse than the general population in six (ie, physical functioning, role physical, vitality, social functioning, role emotional, and mental health) of eight SF-12 v2 domains. The lowest scores and largest effect sizes were observed in vitality (47.8 in doctors vs 63.0 in the general population; p<0.001; effect size, 0.68) and social functioning (69.2 vs 81.8; p<0.001; effect size, 0.53).

However, significantly better scores were found in doctors vs the general population in the domains of bodily pain (84.5 vs 79.9; p=0.002; effect size, 0.21) and general health (59.6 vs 53.2; p<0.001; effect size, 0.25).

Notably, SF-12 v2 mental component scale and mental health domain scores were significantly better in doctors aged 35–39 years than those aged <30 years (p=0.012 and p=0.042, respectively).

Having children and higher personal burnout scores were associated with worse physical HRQoL, whereas regular exercise was associated with better physical HRQoL. Depression, personal burnout, work-related burnout and patient-related burnout were associated with worse mental HRQoL.

“Our study showed that HRQoL of physicians in Hong Kong is poorer than their Asian and global counterparts,” the researchers pointed out.