Work characteristics and morbidity as predictors of self-perceived health status in Norwegian physicians

The purpose of this study was to assess whether work characteristics and morbidity are predictors of physical, psychological, and social functioning in physicians.

A cross-sectional study was undertaken of 1126 Norwegian physicians. For comparison of health status scores, the Short Form 36 questionnaire was used, adjusting for differences in age and gender where applicable. Somatic morbidity was classified on the basis of self-reported conditions and psychiatric morbidity with score on the 25-item Hopkins symptom checklist using a cut-off indicating clinical psychiatric disease. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used with SF-36 dimension score below/above the 10th percentile as the dependent variable.

In the multivariate model, psychiatric comorbidity was a significant predictor in 7 of 8 dimensions of health status (odds ratio 0.17 to 0.49), and somatic comorbidity in 6 of 8 dimensions of health status (odds ratio 0.33 to 0.59). Working hours was a significant predictor of only one dimension of health status, general health, after adjustment for demographic and work-related variables.

The most important predictors for most dimensions of health status among Norwegian physicians were the presence or absence of self-reported somatic or psychiatric morbidity, while working hours, choice of specialty, and position were less important.