Mortality of Doctors: Do Doctors Benefit From Their Medical Knowledge?

Comparison between surgeons and general practitioners with respect to cardiovascular and psychosocial risk factors among physicians.

“…The purpose of the study was to assess whether work-related stress factors and specific physiological parameters would yield some clues as to why Swedish surgeons are at increased risk of dying from ischemic heart disease and why general practitioners are not at such risk (3). Moreover, we attempted to further our understanding of the psychophysiological factors that could be of importance in attempts to understand why physicians in general are at a similar risk to die from ischemic heart disease as the general population (3,5,15). Although we selected a random sample, generalization to all physicians in these two groups should be done with great caution.…”

“…Recent Finni sh and Swedish data suggest that cardiovascular mortality among physician s is similar to that of other professions (3,5,15). Within the medical profession in Sweden surgeons appear to be especially at risk to die from ischemic heart disease (incidence risk ratio 2.1 , 95 010 confidence interval 1.5-2.8), according to rate s for the period 1969-1983 (3).…”

“…In the same study, general practitioners were found to be at low risk of death from ischemi c heart disease. The finding that physi cians do not seem to be better off than sociodemographically comparative groups has been suggested to be due to "either that doctors do not use their professional knowledge and skills in a way that lowers their own mortality or that other occup ation-related factor s cancel out any benefit [p 86]" (15).…”

Cancer incidence among physicians occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation in Finland

“…The incidence of several cancers (lung cancer in particular) among physicians is below that of the rest of the population (16)(17)(18). The difference partly remains even in comparison with other occupations in the highest social class.…”

Orthopaedic Surgeons' Cardiovascular Response During Total Hip Arthroplasty

“…It could be the reason why, when considering cardiovascular mortality in the medical profession, surgeons seem at especially high risk of dying of ischemic heart disease [5,26]. However, recreational physical activity is considered beneficial for cardiovascular status.…”