High educational debt and long work hours are associated with burnout symptoms in early-career family physicians

Medical Xpress September 23, 2025
American Academy of Family Physicians

A recent study examined whether higher educational debt among physicians is associated with more hours worked per week and whether both are independently associated with burnout symptoms among early-career family physicians.

The findings are published in The Annals of Family Medicine journal.

Researchers linked the American Board of Family Medicine Initial Certification Questionnaire (2017 to 2020) to its National Graduate Survey about three years later (2020 to 2023) to form a cohort of 4,905 U.S. early-career family physicians in outpatient continuity care.

Educational debt at graduation was grouped as none, under $150,000, $150,000 to $250,000, $250,000 to $350,000, and over $350,000. Weekly work hours were grouped as under 40, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, and 60 or more. Respondents...