• Anna L Kalywis, Robin Samuel, Felix Scholtes, Gilles Reuter, Martin N Stienen, Erich Seifritz, and Werner Surbeck.
• Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Consultation-Liaison-Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital, Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
• World Neurosurg. 2023 Jul 1; 175: e531e541e531-e541.

BackgroundHigh emotional instability (i.e., neuroticism) is associated with poor mental health. Conversely, traumatic experiences may increase neuroticism. Stressful experiences such as complications are common in the surgical profession, with neurosurgeons being particularly affected. We compared the personality trait neuroticism between physicians in a prospective cross-sectional study.MethodsWe used an online survey using the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, an internationally validated measure of the 5-factor model of personality dimensions. It was distributed to board-certified physicians, residents, and medical students in several European countries and Canada (n = 5148). Multivariate linear regression was used to model differences between surgeons, nonsurgeons, and specialties with occasional surgical interventions with respect to neuroticism, adjusting for sex, age, age squared, and their interactions, then testing equality of parameters of adjusted predictions separately and jointly using Wald tests.ResultsWith an expected variability within disciplines, average levels of neuroticism are lower in surgeons than nonsurgeons, especially in the first part of their career. However, the course of neuroticism across age follows a quadratic pattern, that is, an increase after the initial decrease. The acceleration of neuroticism with age is specifically significant in surgeons. Levels of neuroticism are lowest towards mid-career, but exhibit a strong secondary increase towards the end of the surgeon's career. This pattern seems driven by neurosurgeons.ConclusionsDespite initially lower levels of neuroticism, surgeons suffer a stronger increase of neuroticism together with age. Because, beyond well-being, neuroticism influences professional performance and health care systems costs, explanatory studies are mandatory to enlighten causes of this burden.Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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