Does depression come after burnout?

After burnout: depression?
One of the most common occupational diseases is burnout syndrome. IMS Health therefore investigated the syndrome and its complications in a study. Her conclusion: Burnout is often followed by depression.

Using data from the IMS Disease Analyzer database, IMS Health considered 14,698 patient cases diagnosed with burnout for the first time between 2008 and 2013. More women (57%) generally have this syndrome than men (43%).

About two-thirds of the patients were 50 years old and younger at the time of the first diagnosis. Burnout was most commonly diagnosed in patients between 41 and 50 years of age.

Depression is the most common sequelae
Already within the first year, 40% of patients with burnout suffered from depression.13% suffered from physical complaints that can not or are not sufficiently attributed to an organic disease (including fatigue and pain symptoms). In addition, there were gastrointestinal complaints, sleep disorders, hypertension and anxiety.

The longer the initial diagnosis was, the more frequently the sequelae appeared: Two or three years after the first diagnosis, about 45% and 49% of the burnout patients suffered from depression, 18% and 24%, respectively, suffered from gastrointestinal complaints. (Ag)

Picture credits: sokaeiko