AimTo characterise the prevalence of burnout syndrome in a sample of family doctors (FDs) working in the Portuguese National Health System.DesignCross-sectional survey.SettingPrimary healthcare centres from the 18 continental districts and two archipelagos of Portugal.MethodThe Portuguese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory—Human Services Survey was sent to 40 randomly selected healthcare centres and distributed to the FDs employed. Socio-demographic and work-related data were also collected. Participants were classified as having high, average or low levels of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalisation (DP) and personal accomplishment (PA) dimensions of burnout.Results371 questionnaires were sent, of which 153 (83 women, age range 29–64 years; response rate 41%) returned. One-quarter (25.3%, 95% CI 18.6% to 33.1%) of FDs scored high for EE, 16.2% (10.7% to 23.2%) for DP and 16.7% (11.1% to 23.6%) for lack of PA. On multivariate analysis, being married, of older age, having many years of practice or working in a personalised healthcare unit tended to be associated with increased burnout components. Men tended to present higher EE and DP but lower lack of PA than women. Finally, the prevalence (95% CI) of burnout ranged between 4.1% (1.5% to 8.6%) and 32.4% (25.0% to 40.6%), depending on the definition used.ConclusionsHigh burnout is relatively common among Portuguese FDs. Burnout relief measures should be developed in order to prevent a further increase of burnout syndrome among Portuguese FDs.

We read with interest the article by Salcedo et al. 1 on trends in misperceived overweight in Spain. We used data from three Swiss National Health Surveys (20 970 men and 26 397 women aged X18 years) to assess the trends in body-weight misperception between 1997 and 2007. Height and weight were self-reported, and overweight was considered for a body mass index X25 kg m À2 . Details regarding the increase in overweight and obesity in Switzerland have been reported previously. 2 Misperceived overweight was considered when the participant answered 'very happy' or 'happy' to the question 'are you currently happy with your body weight?'. The results according to sex are summarized in the Figure 1. Misperception was higher than the one reported for Spain, partly because of a different question formulation. However, no significant trend was found on bivariate analysis (w 2 for linear trend ¼ 3.43, P ¼ 0.064 for men and w 2 for linear trend ¼ 0.10, P ¼ 0.75 for women). Similarly, after multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusting for sex, age, education and smoking, no significant trend was found: odds ratio for 2007 relative to 1997: 0.94, 95% confidence interval 0.87-1.02, P-value for trend ¼ 0.53. Similar findings were obtained when the analysis was stratified by sex: odds ratio: 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.82-1.01, P-value for trend ¼ 0.32 in men and odds ratio: 0.98, 95% confidence interval 0.87-1.12, P-value for trend ¼ 0.81 in women. The reason for the lack of increase in body-weight misperception, despite an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Swiss population can only be speculated. Possible explanations include aging, as body dissatisfaction tends to decrease with age, 3 or a shift in social norms related to body weight. 4 Still, these are relevant findings as the persistence of high body-weight misperception levels is likely to limit the effectiveness of campaigns aimed at weight reduction. In summary, we found a high bodyweight misperception among overweight and obese Swiss adults but, contrary to Spain, no significant increase during period 1997-2007 was observed. Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The prevalence of low-CRF levels is high in Portuguese youths. BF negatively influences CRF levels among children/adolescents with normal BMI.