Health and well-being among physicians

Physicians' attitudes towards disease prevention are crucial. The purposes of this study are to examine the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and adherence to international preventive screening programmes by a group of physicians.

Online and paper format questionnaires were completed by a sample of 650 physicians from November 2010 to March 2011. The collected data included the main components of screening programmes, which are recommended in international guidelines.

The data show that 30.5% of male physicians currently smoke, 19.4 % are obese, 15.2% have hypertension, 38% are physically inactive and 10.9% have diabetes. Nearly all (95%) of the female participants and most (83%) of the male participants older than 45 years had never had a colonoscopy. Of the male physicians older than 55 years, 36.4% had never had prostate-specific antigen testing, and only 10.9% had undergone a digital rectal examination. Among the female physicians, 27.4% were obese, and 42% had never had a mammogram.

The prevalence of behavioural risk factors for cardiovascular disease is high among physicians. A substantial percentage of the practising physicians did not adhere to the age-specified preventive screening measures recommended in international guidelines.