Aims. This study examines mood and cardiovascular variables related to job stress and burnout in hospital personnel. Main Methods. 400 nurses and physicians from a children’s hospital in China were recruited. Participants completed job stress, burnout, and mood state questionnaires. Cardiovascular variables such as body mass index (BMI), triglyceride (TG), and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were measured. Key Findings. Job stress and burnout were significantly associated with mood state. Statistically significant correlations were found between triglyceride levels and job stress scores ( , ), BMI and job stress scores ( , ), and HDL levels and job stress scores ( , ). Significance. Mood state changes may be related to job stress and job burnout, in turn, associated with triglycerides and HDL levels. Public health implications and interventions are discussed. 1. Introduction Burnout is a psychosomatic syndrome characterized by the three core dimensions of emotional exhaustion (EE), feelings of depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal accomplishment (PA) along with mental weariness. Its etiology is generally thought to be long-standing stress at work or elsewhere [1]. Burnout is an important occupational problem in doctors and nurses [2] since they have continuous and constant contact with patient morbidities and mortalities [3]. Burnout affects nearly one in two salaried physicians and pharmacists in France [4]. A survey in a German university hospital found that more than half of the physicians/psychologists, a quarter of the nursing staff, and 10% of the remaining employees suffered from work-related mental stress disorders. Physicians and psychologists were especially affected by psychosomatic symptoms [5]. A three-hospital survey in China showed that surgeons and physicians had the highest scores of job burnout [6]. Among the three dimensions, emotion exhaustion is regarded as the principal dimension associated with the correlates and consequence of burnout [7]. It is important to study mood states because they not only influence the individuals in their work condition but they also have a work-family interface and are related to their behavior in their families as well [8]. Negative emotions are regarded as a plausible dispositional factor responsible for job satisfaction and influence the way people perceive their working environments [9]. The people with more positive mood states are more optimistic, are more likely to give higher quality services, and are more likely to have a greater sense of accomplishment, while negative moods are
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