Suicide Compared to Other Causes of Mortality in Physicians

Abstract

Physicians frequently are early adopters of healthy behaviors based on their knowledge and economic resources. The mortality patterns of physicians in the United States, particularly suicide, have not been rigorously described for over a decade. Previous studies have shown lower all-cause mortality among physicians yet reported conflicting results about cause-specific mortality such as suicide. In this study, we compared all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a sample of physicians to the age-gender matched general U.S. population from 1948 through 1998. We also compared the mortality experience across medical specialties. The risk of all-cause mortality was 56% lower than expected in men, and 26% lower in women, compared to the general population. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were markedly lower for diseases strongly linked to smoking, e.g., cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and lung cancer. Suicide was the only cause of death where risk was greater than the general population. Overall, we found that physicians are at substantially lower risk of dying compared to the general population for all causes of death except suicide. The findings for suicide are strikingly different than other causes of death and should provide impetus for new research on the mental health of physicians.

Suicide among physicians in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, across one decade

“…[5][6][7] Many studies have compared physician mortality with that of the general population and have found that, despite having a higher life expectancy and a lower mortality rate from avoidable diseases and various other causes, physicians are more susceptible to suicide. 8 Compared with the rest of the working-age population, doctors have a 2.45-fold higher rate of death by suicide. 6 Depression, addictive behaviors, burnout, and occupational stress have been cited as risk factors for suicide among physicians, 7,9-11 especially among younger doctors.…”

Improving the health of psychiatrists

“…A study of recognised suicides among doctors showed that for females this was twice that of the general population, but it was lower for males (Hawton et al, 2001). In the USA, suicide was found to be the only cause of death among doctors that was higher than in the general population (Torre et al, 2005). In Scandinavia mortality from suicide was increased among doctors of both genders, particularly deaths due to self-poisoning (Juel et al, 1997).…”

Lower Mortality in Male Physicians of Chinese Medicine than Male Population in Taiwan

“…Some studies reported lower mortality rates among physicians mainly due to physicians' higher socioeconomic status and better health knowledge (Doll and Peto 2000;Lotufo et al 2001;Doll and Hill 2004;Shin et al 2005;Torre et al 2005), however, medical professionals are also exposed to some specific risk factors, such as the hospital environment, stress, anxiety and possibly depression (Caplan 1994). In addition, physicians' heavy workloads might jeopardize their proficiencies in performing care.…”