A new study has concluded that medical students have more chances of indulging into alcohol abuse, mainly due to, excessive work burden, burnout and debt issues. The study team has found connection between higher alcohol dependence and burnout among medical students.

In a news release, study senior author Dr. Liselotte Dyrbye, an internist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said, “Our findings clearly show there is reason for concern. We recommend institutions pursue a multifaceted solution to address related issues with burnout, the cost of medical education and alcohol abuse”.

The study has found a link between medical students and elevated risk of alcohol issues, but it couldn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship. The research team said that more work will be required on the issue.

To conduct the study, the researchers circulated surveys among 12,500 medical students in the United States, and received roughly one-third responses.

They discovered that roughly 1,400 medical students said that they were suffering from alcohol abuse or dependence. That's nearly a third of medical students who participated in the survey. The study team said that if we compare, there are around 16% of people, who aren't part of any medical school, and have an alcohol abuse or dependence problem.

The study noted that medical students had double the rate of alcohol issues as surgeons, physicians and the general public.

It has discovered a strong association between burnout factors like emotional exhaustion and problem drinking in medical students. The researchers detected that the other major factors included were young age, marriage, and huge educational debt.

The researchers mentioned that in the years between 1995 and 2014, the average cost of medical school has gone up by over 200%. They said that people who completed their graduation in 2014 with a medical degree had an average of $180,000 in educational debt.

Study first author Eric Jackson, Mayo Medical School a medical student, said that according to him, medical schools must have wellness programs. He added that the programs might prove helpful in identifying the factors piling up the stress, and could play a part in removing barriers to mental health services.