Prevalence and factors associated with burnout syndrome in Peruvian health professionals before the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Introduction: Burnout syndrome (BS) is a prevalent occupational health problem in health professionals. To describe the prevalence and factors associated with BS in Peruvian health professionals.Method: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed. The key terms “burnout” and “professional exhaustion” were used with words related to Peru. The databases consulted were LILACS/Virtual Health Library, Medline/PubMed, Science Direct, EBSCO, Scopus, SciELO, and RENATI-SUNEDU; articles published between January 2000 to December 2020 were considered for inclusion. Methodological quality was evaluated using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale.Results: Thirty studies were identified (8 scientific articles and 22 graduate theses). The median sample size was 78, with an interquartile range of 50 to 110. A meta-analysis was performed to calculate a dichotomic prevalence of burnout syndrome in health professionals of 25% (95%CI: 9% to 45%; I2=97.14%; 5 studies). Also, our meta-analysis estimated the overall prevalence of mild burnout (27%; 95%CI: 16%-41%; I2=96.50%), moderate burnout (48%; 95%CI: 32%-65%; I2=97.54%), and severe burnout (17%; 95%CI: 10%-24%; I2=92.13%; 18 studies). We present meta-analyses by region, profession, hospital area, and by dimension of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Overall, the studies presented adequate levels of quality in 96.7% of the included studies (n=29). In addition, our narrative review of factors associated with BS and its three dimensions identified that different studies find associations with labor, socio-demographic, individual, and out-of-work factors.Conclusions: There is a higher prevalence of moderate BS in Peruvian health professionals at MINSA and EsSalud hospitals in Peru, with severity differing by region of Peru, type of profession, work area, and dimensions of BS.