Video: Every Case Tells a Story| Webinar: ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

  • Conditions
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis
    • Gout and Crystalline Arthritis
    • Myositis
    • Osteoarthritis and Bone Disorders
    • Pain Syndromes
    • Pediatric Conditions
    • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Sjögren’s Disease
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
    • Systemic Sclerosis
    • Vasculitis
    • Other Rheumatic Conditions
  • FocusRheum
    • ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis
    • Gout
    • Psoriatic Arthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
  • Guidance
    • Clinical Criteria/Guidelines
    • Ethics
    • Legal Updates
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence
      • Other ACR meetings
      • EULAR/Other
    • Research Rheum
  • Drug Updates
    • Analgesics
    • Biologics/DMARDs
  • Practice Support
    • Billing/Coding
    • EMRs
    • Facility
    • Insurance
    • QA/QI
    • Technology
    • Workforce
  • Opinion
    • Patient Perspective
    • Profiles
    • Rheuminations
      • Video
    • Speak Out Rheum
  • Career
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Awards
    • Career Development
  • ACR
    • ACR Home
    • ACR Convergence
    • ACR Guidelines
    • Journals
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
    • From the College
    • Events/CME
    • President’s Perspective
  • Search

Rheumatology & Other Medical Residents Have High Risk of Depression

Richard Quinn  |  May 27, 2016

Depression_AdrianHillman_iStockphoto_500x270Rheumatologists should pay keen attention to a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that found nearly one in three residents has exhibited depression or depressive symptoms, one of the review’s authors says. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study, “Prevalence of Depression and Depressive Symptoms Among Resident Physicians: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis,” notes that the prevalence has increased over the past four decades.1

“Rheumatology trainees—at least in the U.S.—are, generally speaking, in their fourth, fifth or sixth years of graduate medical training, and so like any residents or fellows, they are at a heightened risk for depression,” says lead author Douglas A. Mata, MD, MPH, a resident physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “Their risk is approximately at least double [that of] age-matched individuals who are not doctors. This fact is very important for rheumatology program directors.”

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Dr. Mata and his colleagues reviewed 31 cross-sectional and 23 longitudinal studies for their meta-analysis. The prevalence of depression or depressive symptoms among resident physicians ranged from 20.9% to 43.2%, depending on the instrument used to assess for symptomatology.

“Now that we have that data, we need to turn our attention to actually acting on this information,” Dr. Mata says. “That is going to involve working to prevent depression among our trainees in the first place and then, also, to do a better job treating it when it does occur.”

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Dr. Mata agrees with Thomas L. Schwenk, MD, of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, who penned an accompanying editorial in JAMA titled “Resident Depression: The Tip of a Graduate Medical Education Iceberg,” which gave three possible solutions to the increased risk for depression among doctors in training.2

“The first solution is that we can find depressed doctors and give them more and better mental healthcare,” Dr. Mata summarizes. “Another possibility is to somehow limit trainees’ exposure to the environment or system that’s causing the depression, which you might conceptualize as reducing work hours; however, that’s been done, and it hasn’t worked. A third possibility would be that the medical system as a whole actually needs to change fundamentally. I think it’s going to be a combination of the first and the third options that [is] really going to be key.”


Richard Quinn is a freelance writer in New Jersey.

Reference

  1. Mata DA, Ramos MA, Bansal N, et al. Prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms among resident physicians: A aystematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA. 2015 Dec 8;314(22):2373–2383. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.15845.
  2. Schwenk TL. Resident depression: The tip of a graduate medical education iceberg. 2015 Dec 8;314(22):2357–2358. doi: 10.1001/jama.2015.15408.

Page: 1 2 | Multi-Page
Share: 

Filed under:Career DevelopmentProfessional Topics Tagged with:Depressioneducation & trainingmedical residentMental Healthresidents

Related Articles

    7 Tools to Identify Depression

    August 1, 2014

    Why screening for depressive symptoms in patients with arthritis is needed

    Depression in Rheumatoid Arthritis

    November 1, 2012

    Examining the psychological and health-related comorbidities of rheumatoid arthritis patients with depression

    Study Examines How Depression Subtypes May Stem from Osteoarthritis

    October 18, 2019

    Prostock-studio / shutterstock.com People with or at risk for sympto­matic knee osteoarthritis (OA) may be assigned to four depression subtypes with distinct clusters of depressive symptoms that may affect pain and disability over time, according to a new study in Arthritis Care & Research.1 Four depression subtypes were identified in the study using the Center…

    Where OA & Depression Intersect

    October 20, 2017

    Pain, limited mobility and lower quality of life—these aspects of living with osteoarthritis may result in severe depression. New research from Alan Rathbun, PhD, MPH, may enable physicians to better understand the intersection of physical and mental health so they can improve overall patient care…

  • About Us
  • Meet the Editors
  • Issue Archives
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 1931-3268 (print). ISSN 1931-3209 (online).
  • DEI Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Cookie Preferences