Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Observational Study
. 2015 Nov;94(47):e2079.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000002079.

Cancer Incidence in Physicians: A Taiwan National Population-based Cohort Study

Yu-Sung Lee  1 , Chien-Chin Hsu, Shih-Feng Weng, Hung-Jung Lin, Jhi-Joung Wang, Shih-Bin Su, Chien-Cheng Huang, How-Ran Guo
Affiliations
Observational Study

Cancer Incidence in Physicians: A Taiwan National Population-based Cohort Study

Yu-Sung Lee et al. Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan since 1982. Physicians have many health-related risk factors which may contribute to cancer, such as rotating night shift, radiation, poor lifestyle, and higher exposure risk to infection and potential carcinogenic drugs. However, the cancer risk in physicians is not clear. In Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified 14,889 physicians as the study cohort and randomly selected 29,778 nonmedical staff patients as the comparison cohort for this national population-based cohort study. Cox proportional-hazard regression was used to compare the cancer risk between physicians and comparisons. Physician subgroups were also analyzed. Physicians had a lower all-cancer risk than did the comparisons (hazard ratio [HR] 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.76-0.97). In the sex-based analysis, male physicians had a lower all-cancer risk than did male comparisons (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.73-0.94); and female physicians did not (HR 1.29, 95% CI 0.88-1.91). In the cancer-type analysis, male physicians had a higher risk of prostate cancer (HR 1.72, 95% CI 1.12-2.65) and female physicians had twice the risk of breast cancer (HR 2.00, 95% CI 1.11-3.62) than did comparisons. Cancer risk was not significantly associated with physician specialties. Physicians in Taiwan had a lower all-cancer risk but higher risks for prostate and breast cancer than did the general population. These new epidemiological findings require additional study to clarify possible mechanisms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this study were reported.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow chart for the study. LHID = Longitudinal Health Insurance Database.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Cumulative incidence rate for cancer in physicians and comparisons during the follow-up.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. The Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update. World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/2004_report_update/en/ Accessed February 12, 2015.
    1. Causes of death statistics. Ministry of Health and Welfare. Available at: http://www.mohw.gov.tw/cht/DOS/Statistic.aspx?f_list_no=312&fod_list_no=... Accessed January 17, 2015.
    1. Cancer prevention. World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/cancer/prevention/en/ Accessed January 18, 2015.
    1. Lin CM, Yang CH, Sung FC, et al. Risks and causes of hospitalizations among physicians in Taiwan. Health Serv Res 2008; 43:675–692. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lu JF, Hsiao WC. Does universal health insurance make health care unaffordable? Lessons from Taiwan. Health Aff (Millwood) 2003; 22:77–88. - PubMed

Publication types