Prevalence of Burnout and Its Association with Academic Stress among MBBS, BDS, and Allied Health Sciences Students in Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study

The situation of healthcare students suffering from burnout is a global issue, but there is limited data on the subject across various healthcare disciplines in Pakistan (MBBS, BDS, Allied Health Sciences). Objectives: To establish the prevalence, explore the relationship between academic stress and burnout, and to compare the dimensions of academic stress with the highest correlation scores with burnout, and to compare the level of burnout across demographic factors. Methods: The study was of cross-sectional descriptive analytical design conducted in three institutions of Pakistan in the period of January 2026 – April, 2026. Academic stress (8 items) and burnout (12 items) were measured using a structured questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale. Because data distributions were non-normal, non-parametric tests were used (Spearman's correlation, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal- Wallis), and the results were based on 306 valid responses. Results: In general, 85.7% of students had medium (65.9%) or severe (19.8%) burnout. Total academic stress correlated significantly with burnout (ρ=0.363, 95% CI: 0.257–0.470, p<0.001). The individual correlation with “No revision time” was the highest (ρ=0.252). There were no significant differences between males and females, program, year of study, or residence regarding burnout (all p>0.05). Conclusions: The study found that around 85.7% of the Pakistani healthcare students are experiencing burnout, mainly due to chronic time constraints and cumulative workload. Systemic institutional changes such as curricular changes and accessible mental health support are urgently needed.