The study, published Feb. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine, used data from the National Vital Statistics System on deaths among adults ages 25 to 74 years from January 2020 to December 2022. Physicians comprised 0.3% of the sample, and other healthcare workers — including dentists, health services managers, nurses, nurse practitioners, optometrists, chiropractors, pharmacists, physician assistants and healthcare support workers, including home health aides — comprised 8.5%.
Here are four findings to know:
1. Among more than 3.6 million workers, physicians had a lower annual mortality rate of 269.3 per 100,000 compared to non-healthcare workers at a rate of 730.6. However, the lower mortality rate applied only to men.
2. In general, white women had a lower mortality rate than men in non-healthcare occupations with a rate of 0.55 compared to 0.60. However this was not true for female physicians and female physician assistants who had mortality rates of 0.97 and 1.02, respectively. Female physicians experienced higher mortality rates than male physicians of neoplasms and chronic lower respiratory diseases.
3. Black workers had the highest mortality rate in all occupations, and the Black-to-white mortality ratio was largest for physicians due to differences in neoplasms, heart disease and COVID-19.
4. Mortality in Hispanic healthcare workers varied by occupation. Hispanic-to-white mortality ratio was higher for physicians compared to nonhealthcare workers at 1.18, compared to 0.83
“Although physicians and most healthcare workers experienced lower mortality rates compared with the general population, this benefit did not fully extend to female individuals or racial and ethnic minority groups,” the study authors wrote. “Renewed efforts are needed to address health inequities within the healthcare workforce.”