Cigarette smoking and burnout syndrome among medical students at University of Kragujevac, Serbia

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the association between cigarette smoking and burnout syndrome among medical students.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, using the Maslach Burnout Inventory Student Survey. In total, 760 of the 836 medical students were included in the analysis (response rate was 90.9%). Burnout syndrome is defined as a triad of symptoms: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and academic inefficiency. Statistical evaluation was performed through Chi-square and t-test.

Results: The overall prevalence of cigarette smoking was 32.0%, among them 18.8% were current smokers and 13.2% were former smokers. Cigarette smoking was significantly associated with cynicism, with smokers more often showing high cynicism compared to non-smokers (40.7% vs. 32.3%; P = 0.023). Also, cigarette smoking was significantly associated with higher academic inefficiency, with smokers more often showing high academic inefficiency compared with non-smokers (43.6% vs. 35.0%; P = 0.022). Cigarette smoking was not significantly associated with emotional exhaustion (44.9% vs. 38.5%; P = 0.096).

Conclusion: The effects of cigarette smoking on the burnout syndrome need to be further elucidated in longitudinal research.