The prevalence of burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists pre- and post-COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) increased the already heavy workload in the pulmonary and respiratory departments, which therefore possibly increased the prevalence of burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists. We aimed to compare the differences in burnout among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists pre- and post-COVID-19 by doing a systematic review with meta-analysis. METHODS: We searched pulmonologist, or pulmonary, or respiratory, and burnout up to 29 January 2023 in six databases. We included studies investigating pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and reporting the prevalence of burnout among them. The risk of bias was assessed by a tool for prevalence studies. The overall prevalence of burnout was pooled. RESULTS: A total of 2859 records were identified and 16 studies were included in the final analysis. The included studies reported 3610 responding individuals and 2336 burnouts. The pooled prevalence of burnout was 61.7% (95% confidence interval (CI), 48.6–73.2%; I(2) = 96.3%). The pooled prevalence of burnout during COVID-19 was significantly higher than it was prior to the outbreak (68.4% vs. 41.6%, p = .01). The result of the meta-regression revealed that COVID-19 coverage was significantly associated with the prevalence of burnout (p = .04). CONCLUSIONS: Burnout was widely prevalent among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and increasingly perceived during COVID-19. Therefore, interventions were needed to reduce burnout in this specialty. KEY MESSASGES: 1. The coronavirus disease-19 increased the already heavy workload in the pulmonary and respiratory departments. 2. Burnout was widely prevalent among pulmonologists or respiratory therapists and increasingly perceived during COVID-19.