Mortality Among US Physicians and Other Health Care Workers

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Occupational Health
• Health Disparities

Background:

• National mortality data for physicians and health care workers are limited.
• Understanding mortality patterns across sex, race, and ethnicity within healthcare professions is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates among physicians, health care workers, and non-health care workers.
• To analyze these mortality rates across different sex, race, and ethnicity groups.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) for US death certificate data (2020-2022).
• Analyzed mortality rates for adults aged 25-74 by usual occupation, sex, race, and ethnicity.
• Compared mortality rates between healthcare and non-healthcare occupations, adjusting for income levels.

Main Results:

• Most health care workers exhibited lower mortality rates than non-health care workers.
• The mortality advantage for females seen in non-healthcare roles was absent in some healthcare professions, notably physicians.
• Black workers, particularly Black female physicians, showed higher mortality rates compared to White workers and other physician subgroups.
• Hispanic workers experienced reversed mortality patterns in some healthcare roles compared to non-healthcare roles.

Conclusions:

• While physicians and most healthcare workers have lower overall mortality, this benefit is not equally distributed among all demographic groups.
• Significant health inequities persist within the healthcare workforce, particularly affecting female and minority workers.
• Targeted interventions are necessary to address and eliminate these disparities in healthcare worker mortality.