The Effects of Long Working Hours on Mental Health Among Resident Physicians in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the effect of long working hours on anxiety and depression among resident physicians working in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study using an anonymous and confidential self-administered electronic questionnaire. Mental health status (depression and anxiety) is measured using hospital anxiety and depression scale. A multi-stage stratified sampling technique was used. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 24.0. The Chi-square test and ordinal logistic regression (OLR) were used to test the association.

Results

A total of 258 medical residents participated in the study. The prevalence of anxiety was 39.5% (n=102) and depression was 20.9% (n=54). In multivariate OLR against anxiety, working more than 64 hours per week was significantly associated (p=0.013) with an increase in the odds of observing a higher level of anxiety (odds ratio=2.91, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.25–6.77) compared with working up to 40 hours per week after adjusting for age, amount of sleep and exposure to injustice. For the depression multivariate OLR, it would increase the odds of observing a higher level of depression for working 41–48, 49–64 and more than 64 hours per week by 2.21 (95% CI:1.07–4.58, P=0.033), 2.07 (95% CI:1.01–4.27, P=0.049) and 2.37 (95% CI:1.03–5.50, P=0.044) respectively, compared with working up to 40 hours per week and adjusting for the amount of sleep and exposure to injustice.

Conclusion

Resident physicians are at increased risk of developing anxiety and depression which is influenced by long working hours and a variety of other factors. Therefore, attention needs to be paid to this association. The implementation of interventions for the prevention and screening of physicians’ mental health disorders is needed.

Keywords:

• long working hours
• mental health
• anxiety
• depression
• physicians

Abbreviations

ILO, international labour organization; GPs, general practitioners; CI, confidence interval; HADS, hospital anxiety and depression scale; OLR, ordinal logistic regression; OR, odds ratio.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

IRB: Institutional Review Board, General Directorate of Health, Makkah (H-02-K-076-0320-273).

Consent: The participants were not allowed to proceed to the electronic questionnaire until they acknowledged the informed consent statement.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.