Should Physicians Lead a Stress-Free Life?

Stress has been associated with telomere length. In the first prospective study of this association, 247 interns participating in a larger, prospective study of internship stress submitted saliva samples for assessments of telomere length at the beginning and end of internship. The interns also completed scales at baseline on depression, past stress, and neuroticism and rated current depression and outside-residency stresses every 3 months during internship.

Telomeres shortened significantly during internship, and neuroticism and stress outside of internship were not significant predictors of this process. Interns who reported working ≥16 hours daily had more telomere shortening. In a control group of 84 college students, telomeres did not s…