Prevalence of stress among resident doctors working in Medical Colleges of Delhi

The present cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2007 to December 2008 in four medical colleges and associated hospitals of Delhi. Study subjects comprised 930 resident doctors. The overall prevalence of stress was found to be 32.8% in resident doctors from all colleges. Out of 930 resident doctors, 165 (17.7%) had mild stress, 113 (12.2%) had moderate stress, and 27 (2.9%) were severely stressed. Important reasons of stress as perceived by the study subjects included long duty hours, departmental academic activities, financial constraints, family and emotional problems in the decreasing order of preference. Important factors significantly associated with stress-included existence of children, year of residency, type of department, and presence or absence of job satisfaction, having close friends, spending time with family/friends, and place of graduation. In the multivariate model, year of residency, giving time to family and or friends, having close friends during residency, job satisfaction, and state of graduation came out as predictors of stress.