A Study on Influencing Factors of Physicians’ Suboptimal Health Status in Primary Healthcare Institutions

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the current health status of Chinese physicians in primary healthcare institutions (PHI) and the effects of personal characteristics, lifestyle, work-related environment and life-related environment on the subhealth status (SHS) of them. METHODS: A conceptual framework of various influencing factors was constructed with reference to the concept of health-related quality of life before the convenience sampling. Self-administered questionnaires are distributed to acquire the cross-sectional information of nationwide PHI physicians. A logit regression model was constructed to investigate the influence of various factors on the SHS of PHI physicians. RESULTS: Among 682 valid cases included in the logit regression, 457 physicians were in SHS, with an SHS rate of 67%. The regression results (R2=0.3934, chi-square=337.07, p<0.0001) showed that long working hours (p<0.05), personal income (p<0.05) and life stress (p<0.05) were protective factors for subhealth. The frequency of alcohol consumption (p<0.01), smoking (p<0.05), fear of making mistakes at work (p< 0.001), tension with colleagues (p < 0.0001), and job satisfaction (p < 0.05) were all risk factors. Other factors such as education (p < 0.1) also had an effect on the SHS of primary care physicians. CONCLUSION: A large proportion of PHI physicians in China are in SHS and many of them are not aware that they are in a poor health state. The logit regression model showed that factors including worries about the occurrence of accidents, strained relationships with colleagues, job satisfaction, and frequency of smoking and drinking negatively influence the SHS of PHI physicians, which should be paid more attention. Meanwhile, annual personal income, long working hours and life stress are protective factors, which means that these factors need to be encouraged.