Abstract

Background: Residency training can be psychologically demanding, but the workload and day-to-day pressures vary across specialties. We compared symptoms of anxiety and depression in anesthesiology and family medicine.
Materials and Methods: In this single-center cross-sectional study, 20 anesthesiology residents and 20 family medicine residents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). HADS anxiety and depression subscale scores were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. Scores of ≥10 on HADS-A and ≥7 on HADS-D were considered positive screening results. Holm correction was applied to the exploratory item-level analyses.
Results: Anesthesiology residents reported more shifts per month [median 7.0 (interquartile range IQR 6.0–9.0) vs. 4.0 (0.8–5.0); p=0.000028] and had spent more time working in the intensive care unit [13.0 (7.0–18.0) vs. 0.0 (0.0–0.0) months; p=0.000005]. The groups did not differ significantly in HADS-A [9.0 (7.5–11.3) vs. 7.5 (4.8–10.5); p=0.237] or HADS-D [8.5 (4.0–10.5) vs. 4.5 (2.0–8.5); p=0.061] scores. Positive anxiety screens occurred in 40% and 30% of participants, respectively (p=0.741), and positive depression screens in 60% and 35% (p=0.205). No item-level difference remained significant after Holm correction.
Conclusion: Despite a heavier shift and intensive care workload among anesthesiology residents, this small study found no statistically significant difference between the specialties in HADS-A or HADS-D scores. Larger multicenter studies are needed to clarify whether meaningful differences exist.

Key words: Anxiety; Depression; Internship and Residency; Anesthesiology; Family Practice