Using data from 1,805 interns, residents, and fellows in Ontario,
Canada, the authors report the prevalence of symptoms measured by the
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). They found that
the proportion of subjects scoring as depressed was somewhat higher than
that found in community studies. Women had higher depression scores than
men. The proportion of unmarried house staff with moderate or severe
depression scores was higher than that of married house staff. Considerable
differences were found by specialty, and depression was most prevalent in
the first year of postgraduate training. These findings have implications
for those who direct postgraduate medical training or who seek to alleviate
unnecessary stress in the postgraduate education experience.Abstract Teaser