The DOI matches its Crossref record; 232 of the 232 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prevalence of Burnout Among Physicians: A Systematic Review
Open accessAbstract
Importance: Burnout is a self-reported job-related syndrome increasingly recognized as a critical factor affecting physicians and their patients. An accurate estimate of burnout prevalence among physicians would have important health policy implications, but the overall prevalence is unknown. Objective: To characterize the methods used to assess burnout and provide an estimate of the prevalence of physician burnout. Data Sources and Study Selection: Systematic search of EMBASE, ERIC, MEDLINE/PubMed, psycARTICLES, and psycINFO for studies on the prevalence of burnout in practicing physicians (ie, excluding physicians in training) published before June 1, 2018. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Burnout prevalence and study characteristics were extracted independently by 3 investigators. Although meta-analytic pooling was planned, variation in study designs and burnout ascertainment methods, as well as statistical heterogeneity, made quantitative pooling inappropriate. Therefore, studies were summarized descriptively and assessed qualitatively. Main Outcomes and Measures: Point or period prevalence of burnout assessed by questionnaire. Results: Burnout prevalence data were extracted from 182 studies involving 109 628 individuals in 45 countries published between 1991 and 2018. In all, 85.7% (156/182) of studies used a version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to assess burnout. Studies variably reported prevalence estimates of overall burnout or burnout subcomponents: 67.0% (122/182) on overall burnout, 72.0% (131/182) on emotional exhaustion, 68.1% (124/182) on depersonalization, and 63.2% (115/182) on low personal accomplishment. Studies used at least 142 unique definitions for meeting overall burnout or burnout subscale criteria, indicating substantial disagreement in the literature on what constituted burnout. Studies variably defined burnout based on predefined cutoff scores or sample quantiles and used markedly different cutoff definitions. Among studies using instruments based on the MBI, there were at least 47 distinct definitions of overall burnout prevalence and 29, 26, and 26 definitions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment prevalence, respectively. Overall burnout prevalence ranged from 0% to 80.5%. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment prevalence ranged from 0% to 86.2%, 0% to 89.9%, and 0% to 87.1%, respectively. Because of inconsistencies in definitions of and assessment methods for burnout across studies, associations between burnout and sex, age, geography, time, specialty, and depressive symptoms could not be reliably determined. Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review, there was substantial variability in prevalence estimates of burnout among practicing physicians and marked variation in burnout definitions, assessment methods, and study quality. These findings preclude definitive conclusions about the prevalence of burnout and highlight the importance of developing a consensus definition of burnout and of standardizing measurement tools to assess the effects of chronic occupational stress on physicians.
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“This may be an overestimation for the reason that the authors utilized a sensitive approach in defining burnout—at least one alteration reaching the critical boundary in any of the three subscales [5, 16].”
From Burnout among neurology residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national cross-sectional study (2022) · cites this paper as [5]
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“Considering the high prevalence of burnout in academic medical centres [166–168], it is not surprising that wellness was the second-highest reported type of coaching program in our analysis.”
From Coaching in undergraduate and graduate medical education: a scoping review of success factors, barriers, and outcomes (2026) · cites this paper as [168]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
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“According to most recent studies, approximately half of physicians and nurses in the US report significant burnout symptoms in the form of high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization, and/or a low sense of personal accomplishment.3-5”
From What do we really know about addressing burnout among healthcare workers? Maybe less than we think (2026) · cites this paper as [5]
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In the citing paper
“burnout, depression, and moral injury overlap but are not identical”
From Individual-Focused Interventions for Physician Burnout: A Meta-Analysis of Mindfulness, Coaching, and Peer Support (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
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“a minimum of 55 participants should be enrolled assuming 95% confidence and an error rate of 10% in the prevalence estimate, and assuming a prevalence rate of up to 80.5% [5] and a total population of 136”
From Burnout among neurology residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national cross-sectional study (2022) · cites this paper as [5]
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“The prevalence of burnout among physicians ranges from 0 to 80.5% [2–5].”
From Burnout among neurology residents during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national cross-sectional study (2022) · cites this paper as [5]
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“Rotenstein and colleagues reviewed more than 100 burnout studies and found extreme variability in definitions and prevalence, with over 140 distinct ways of defining “burnout” and wide ranges in reported rates [13].”
From Individual-Focused Interventions for Physician Burnout: A Meta-Analysis of Mindfulness, Coaching, and Peer Support (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
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“current measures may not fully capture this complexity [12,13]”
From Individual-Focused Interventions for Physician Burnout: A Meta-Analysis of Mindfulness, Coaching, and Peer Support (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
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“Prevalence estimates among physicians range between 37% [2] and 80% [3]”
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“Both contexts also face similar challenges, such as physician burnout due to work-related stress (3), inefficiencies in clinical workflows, inaccuracies in diagnostic tests, and increases in hospital-acquired infections.”
From Artificial intelligence for global health (2019) · cites this paper as [3]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Rotenstein, L. S., Torre, M., Ramos, M. A., Rosales, R. C., Guille, C., Sen, S., & Mata, D. A.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Medical University of South Carolina (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mata, Douglas A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- JAMA
- Publisher
- American Medical Association (AMA)
- Published
- 2018-09-18
- Volume
- 320
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1131
- ISSN
- 0002-9955 (ISSN-L)
- 0098-7484
- PMC
- PMC6233645
- OpenAlex
- W2890627641
- Cited by
- 1,904
- References
- 232
- Citations by year
- 2026: 228 · 2025: 267 · 2024: 250 · 2023: 250 · 2022: 271 · 2021: 288 · 2020: 236 · 2019: 106 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 28.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- JAMA (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH101459)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- physician burnout, burnout prevalence, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, low personal accomplishment, Maslach Burnout Inventory, burnout definition, cut-off values, physician well-being, occupational stress in medicine
- MeSH terms
- Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, Professional, Depersonalization, Humans, Job Satisfaction, Physicians, Surveys and Questionnaires, Prevalence
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