What is the connection between burnout and physical illness? Roland von Känel, Director of the Clinic for Consultative Psychology and Psychosomatics, has investigated this in a study. It has been proven that physical illnesses are linked to burnout.
People who suffer from burnout are often exhausted, cynical or not fully productive. It has long been known that burnout increases the risk of developing physical disorders. However, little research has been carried out into the direct connection.
Roland von Känel and his colleagues conducted a study together with DU DA Data & Commtech by Farner to investigate the connection between burnout and physical symptoms. To this end, 5671 people (aged 18-70, ∅ 44.1 years, 38.6% men) took part in an online survey on the topic of burnout in the workplace. DU DA Data & Commtech developed a web-based health app for the survey, which combines the four most important tests declared as gold standard and depicts them in the new index value Burnout Risk Index (BRIX). The respondents answered questions on socio-demographic characteristics, symptoms of burnout and mood.
Physical disorders come before burnout
The subsequent network analysis, taking into account age, gender, education level, depressive symptoms and all disease categories included, showed a significant association of severe fatigue with high blood pressure and other physical illnesses. Reduced exercise capacity showed a significant association with chronic lung disease and clinically relevant depressive symptoms had a significant association with high blood pressure, other chronic somatic diseases and skin diseases. These correlations were confirmed by a logistic regression analysis.
“According to conventional wisdom, burnout is not an illness, but it is certainly a risk condition that those affected can develop a mental or physical illness,” says Roland von Känel. “With the network analysis, we have now been able to prove a significant connection between burnout and various physical disorders – increased blood pressure, lung disease and other somatic illnesses. The connection is particularly clear for states of exhaustion in occupational burnout. And it is independent of the age, gender, level of education or depressive symptoms of the participants.”
Recognize burnout at an early stage
The study can show how important it is to recognize burnout at an early stage. Everyday information about mood, sleep, stress levels and physical indicators such as certain hormones or messenger substances in the blood can be used to create a scorecard for the individual burnout risk. With the web-based health app from DU DA Data & Commtech, those affected can recognize much earlier than today whether and where they are at risk of burnout and react early to prevent physical illness.