Burnout Rates Among Academic Neurologists Are High, Especially in Women

Long clinical hours are associated with high rates of burnout among academic neurologists in the United States, according to study results presented at the 2024 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting, held from April 13 to 18, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.

“Burnout is affecting many physicians and can contribute to physician error and fatigue. It may very well be a contributing factor as to why there are more and more physicians quitting medicine or retiring early,” Janet Guo, lead author of the study and a medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, told Neurology Advisor. She continued, “Within medicine, neurologists have consistently shown high rates of burnout and low satisfaction with work-life balance.”

To measure the prevalence and identify predictors of burnout in neurology, researchers conducted a survey that used the abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory from December 2020 to March 2022. A total of 318 neurologists (women, 60.4%) from 19 academic neurology departments in the United States were included in the study. The researchers used the Women in Neurology Collaborative Study (WINCS) to collect data on the following factors:

• Demographic,
• Career,
• Compensation,
• Equity,
• Domestic circumstances,
• Parental leave, and
• Burnout.

The researchers performed statistical analysis using R version 4.21.

The survey findings revealed an estimated 36.5% of respondents reported moderate to high levels of burnout. Higher rates of clinical hours (P <.001) were associated with a high burnout rate. Compared with men, more women reported emotional exhaustion (70.4% vs 40%; P <.001).

Among women neurologists, single women (n=24;7.5%) reported lower levels of burnout (P =.007). Among men, factors associated with a lower risk for burnout included:

• High academic rank (P =.037),
• Presence of leadership title (P =.022), and
• More research hours worked (P =.041).

After adjusting for other factors, professor rank (P =.005) and being 15 to 20 years postgraduation (P =.03) were independent predictors of low burnout.

The researchers acknowledged that high rates of burnout may be associated with several factors, including clinical time, academic rank, leadership status, number of postgraduate years, and marital status.

“Hopefully these results can inform future policy decisions among academic neurology programs to help reduce burnout rates among neurologist,” said Guo.

Guo acknowledged that more research needs to be conducted to explore proposed options to prevent and reduce burnout among neurologists. Many of these options “appear to be aimed at decreasing workload, establishing work hour restrictions, and allowing for more autonomy in the workplace,” she said. “We need more research conducted in this area to help promote the wellbeing of all neurologists and promote more to go into the field in the future!”

Disclosure: Several study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of authors’ disclosures.