ABC | Volume 113, Nº1, July 2019

Original Article Faganello et al The profile of the brazilian cardiologist Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 113(1):62-68 Results Demographic data Of the 13,462 active members of the BSC, 9,555 (70.9%) were men, 9,752 (71.1%) were aged between 30 and 59 years, and 1,323 (9.8%) aged 70 years or older. Most members lived in the southeast (55.5%) or in the south (15.1%) of Brazil as follows – 3,420 (25.4%) in São Paulo, 2,158 (16%) in Rio de Janeiro, 1,572 (11.6%) in Minas Gerais, 853 (6.3%) in Rio Grande do Sul and 774 (5,7%) in Paraná State. The questionnaire was answered by 2,101 cardiologists (response rate 15.6%), 1,509 men (71.8%) and 592 women (28.2%). Regarding the age of participants, 1,077 (51.3%) were older than 50 years. Figure 1 shows the distribution of age by sex, with a difference between men and women (p < 0.0001). Thirty-four percent of men and 13% of women were aged 60 years or older. Most respondents were married (77.7¨%), 84.7% of the men and 59.8% of the women (p < 0.001). With respect to the number of children, 23% did not have children, and 57.3% had two or more children. The number of cardiologists who did not have children was higher among women (40.5 versus 16.1%; p < 0.001). The difference remained significant after adjustment for age, but not after adjustment for marital status. Characteristics of professional activity Most respondents (70.5%) had the title of specialists in cardiology from the BSC/Brazilian Medical Association, and 29.5% were applicants for the title. Most participants (n = 1,336; 65.4%) worked in only one field, especially clinical cardiology (50.5%), with no difference between men and women; 2.8% of the interviewees did not answer this question. Regarding the number of working hours per week, 1,350 (64.2%) participants (69% of the men and 51.9% of the women, p < 0.001) worked more than 40 hours; 363 (17.3%) worked in only one place, and 1,036 (49.3%) worked in three or more places. The most common place of work was the public hospital (46.5%), followed by private hospital (28.5%) and private office (21.15) (Figure 2). The public hospital was the main place of work for 53% of women 44% of men (p<0.001). On the other hand, private office was the main work place for 23.9% of men and 14% of women, three times more frequent among cardiologists older than 50 years (31.7 versus 10.1%). Only 0.3% of participants reported to work in public health centers. No difference was found in the number of work places between the sexes. Monthly income was higher than 11,000 Brazilian reals (BRL) (US$ 3,473.43). The distribution of income by sex is depicted in Figure 3; 66.5% of men and 31.2% of women (p < 0.001) reported to gain more than 20,000 BRL (adjusted for number of working hours and age range). Regarding the level of stress (Figure 4), 64.2% reported an adequate level of stress; 11.3% perceived stress as a great deal, and 24.3% reported no stress. The causes of stress at work were poor working conditions (36.7%), excessive working hours (23.5%), low pay (15.7%), work pressure (10.9%), and others (13%). With regards to legal issues, 13.9% of participants reported having been sued for medical malpractices, and 0.3% reported to have been condemned. The question was not answered by 10 participants (0.4%). Considering the age participants wished to retire, 10.5% reported they wished to retire before the age of 60 years, 46.1% between 61 and 70 years, 34.1% between 71 and 80 years, 4.7% older than 80 years, and 14.6% reported they do not want to retire from their work as a cardiologist. Regarding the retirement financial planning, 58.4% reported to contribute to a private retirement plan. The questionnaire also included questions about participants’ perception on the influence of technology, spirituality, the role of the media on their work. The use of technology on a daily basis was reported by 84.7% of the respondents, with no difference between sexes and age ranges. The frequency of technology use for patient-physician communication was daily for 40.6% and weekly for 21.7% of participants. Regarding the role of spirituality in the treatment of the patients, it was considered “very useful” by 54.7%, “useful” by 30.1%, “not very useful” by 6% of the respondents; 9.1% did not have a strong opinion about the issue, and 0.5% did not answer the question. In terms of the frequency the physicians talked about the subject “spirituality” with their patients, 54.1% answered “eventually”, 24.5% “often”, 14.2% “never” and 0.5% did not answer the question. As for how medical work was presented by the media, 73.7% considered that the opinion expressed by the media was partial and unfavorable to the doctors. Quality of life Most cardiologists reported to sleep between 6 and 7 hours per night (79.5%), with no differences between men and women. Considering the time dedicated to family and leisure activities (Figure 5), 41.8% answered less than 10 hours per week; 29.8% between 11 and 20 hours per week, 17.9% between 21 and 30 hours per week, and 10.4% 31 hours or more per week. The proportion of women who spent more than 20 hours with family-related and leisure activities was greater than that of men (33.4% versus 26.2%; p < 0.001). Smoking habit was reported by only 2.8% of cardiologists (3.3%of men and 1.5%of women, p=0.03). Regarding alcohol consumption, 34.3% reported the frequency of ≥ 2 times (40.1% of the men and 19.5% of the women, p,0.001), 30.1% sometimes a month, 23.4% rarely, and 12% never. Regarding health-related self-care, 52.6% considered themselves to be careful, 7.9% very careful, and 3.4% not careful, with no difference betweenmen and women. With respect to the health of participants, 56.1% reported to have a disease (42.5% of the men and 63.3% of the women; p < 0.001). Sixty percent reported continuous use of medication (57.3% of the men and 59.1% of the women, p = 0.46). Discussion This is the third time the BSC developed studies aimed at evaluating the profile of its member associates. However, this is the first time the Society promoted a more comprehensive study and published the results. 63