Mortality patterns among professional artists: a preliminary report

Abstract

Causes of death among 1598 professional artists were compared with an expected distribution based on the general U.S. population to determine if there were unusual patterns of fatal disease that might be indicative of exposure to hazardous substances in their work environment. Deaths among men and women in the arts were identified from obituaries in Who's Who in American Art published between 1940 and 1969. Among 1253 white male artists, PMRs were significantly elevated for arteriosclerotic heart disease, leukemia and cancers of the bladder, colon, rectum, kidney, and brain. The significant excesses of bladder cancer and leukemia deaths were limited to painters. Proportions of deaths due to colon cancer were significantly elevated among male painters and sculptors. Prostate cancer mortality was slightly higher than expected among painters and significantly elevated among sculptors. Among 345 female artists, painters represented the only specialty category large enough to analyze and excess numbers of deaths due to cancers of the rectum, lung, and breast were noted.