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

Abstract

Aims: Mortality is strongly associated with education. We present relative death risks of men and women in 12 educational/ occupational groups in Sweden today, with a focus on individuals with higher education.

Methods: Results from Cox regressions are reported for 12 educational groups with special emphasis on those with professional education, e.g. clerics, physicians, people with medical PhDs, and university teachers. The study is based on register data of the total Swedish population in the age group of 30-64 (n = 3,734,660).

Results: There is a considerable variation in mortality between educational groups. Men with compulsory education run a risk that is more than three times higher than that of professors outside medicine, and other educational groups fall in between. Medical doctors and physicians have relatively low death risks compared to those with compulsory education - less than 50% among men and less than 60% among women - although professors in medicine deviate by having higher risks than their colleagues in other subjects. Those with a theological exam show higher risks of dying during the follow-up period compared to others of a similar educational level. Professors outside medicine experience the lowest death risks of all identified groups.

Conclusions: Men and women with a professional education have comparatively low death risks, particularly low among medical doctors and university employees, while the clergy seems to experience relatively higher death risks than others with a similar level of education. These patterns may reflect the effects of education as well as the selection of men and women to higher education.