Clerics die, doctors survive: a note on death risks among highly educated professionals

Area of Science:

• Sociology of health
• Public health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Mortality rates exhibit a strong correlation with educational attainment.
• Socioeconomic factors significantly influence health outcomes and life expectancy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the relative mortality risks across 12 distinct educational and occupational groups in Sweden.
• To specifically investigate the mortality patterns of individuals with higher education.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Cox regression analysis on comprehensive Swedish population register data.
• Included 3,734,660 individuals aged 30-64, categorized into 12 educational groups.
• Focused analysis on professional and higher education categories.

Main Results:

• Significant variation in mortality exists between educational strata; compulsory education groups have over three times the risk of professors.
• Medical doctors and physicians demonstrate substantially lower death risks (men <50%, women <60%) compared to those with compulsory education.
• Professors outside medicine exhibit the lowest mortality risks overall, while clergy show higher risks than peers.

Conclusions:

• Professional education is associated with comparatively lower mortality, especially for medical doctors and university employees.
• The clergy group appears to have a relatively higher mortality risk than other similarly educated individuals.
• Observed patterns suggest both the protective effects of higher education and potential self-selection biases into specific professions.