Keywords: cardiovascular health, physicians' health, lifestyle

Background:

Previous studies have reported a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease and premature mortality among physicians.

Research questions:

Our goal was to assess the cardiovascular health of patients and students/residents/physicians (health professionals) and to analyze whether the higher morbidity of physicians can be explained by their lower cardiovascular health.

Method:

We used the Life Essential 8 / My Life Check questionnaire developed by the American Heart Association to assess cardiovascular health among patients visiting their family doctor and among healthcare professionals.
The questionnaire assesses cardiovascular health based on eight lifestyle factors (scored between 0 and 100 points). It also asks about social environment, mental and physical health.

Results:

Among healthcare professionals, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia were less common (46% vs. 7%, 10% vs. 3.3%, 18% vs. 8.2%, p<0.001, p=0.011, p=0.008, respectively).
Healthcare professionals scored better in seven of the cardiovascular scores: Physical activity (72 vs. 60, p=0.008), Smoking (90 vs. 66, p<0.001), Sleep (89 vs. 83, p=0.013) BMI (87 vs. 65, p<0.001), Diet (41 vs. 36, p=0.01), Blood pressure (74 vs. 51, p<0.001), Cholesterol (74 vs. 72, NS), Blood sugar (94 vs. 65, p<0.001), and Total score (70 vs. 62, p<0.001).
Healthcare professionals rated their health as better overall (3.7 vs. 3.0 points out of 5, p<0.001). There was no difference in the monthly number of days with physical complaints, but the number of days with mental complaints was higher among healthcare professionals (7.3 vs. 5.4, p<0.001).
Students reported more days with mental complaints per month (9.8 vs. 5.2 vs. 5.6; p<0.001) than residents and doctors.

Conclusions:

Healthcare professionals live healthier and have fewer cardiovascular risk factors than patients visiting family doctors, thus these factors do not explain the higher cardiovascular morbidity described earlier. However, their poorer mental health, which is already evident in students, deserves attention and may be a risk factor for higher morbidity.

Points for discussion:

Lifestyle of physician

Coping with stress as primary health care providers

Screening and diagnosing family doctors - who should do it?