The mortality rate among registered nurses in the U.S. was more than two times higher than the mortality rate among physicians between 2020 and 2022, according to a study published Feb. 24 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers from Boston-based Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital used data from the National Vital Statistics System to compare mortality among healthcare, including physicians, registered nurses and physician assistants.
Here are five notes from the study:
- Among physicians, registered nurses and physician assistants ages 25 to 74 years old between 2020 to 2022, registered nurses had the highest all-cause mortality rate.
| Occupation | Deaths per 100,000 |
| Physician assistants | 416.1 |
| Physicians | 269.3 |
| Registered nurses | 550.9 |
- During the same time period, registered nurses had higher mortality rates compared to physicians and physician assistants across 13 causes of death. Physician assistants had a higher mortality rate for liver disease and hypertension.
| Cause of death (per 100,000 person-years) | Physician assistants | Physicians | Registered nurses |
| Neoplasms | 116.5 | 89.5 | 134.3 |
| Heart disease | 72.3 | 40.5 | 98 |
| COVID-19 | 40.6 | 22.5 | 57.2 |
| Injuries | 22.5 | 16.6 | 39 |
| Suicide | 16.3 | 12.1 | 17.4 |
| Stroke | 16.2 | 8.8 | 17.7 |
| Diabetes | 13.5 | 6.8 | 22.1 |
| Liver disease | 14.4 | 5.8 | 14.1 |
| Alzheimer’s disease | 3 | 3.3 | 5.6 |
| Respiratory diseases | 10.3 | 3.3 | 20 |
| Septicemia | 3.9 | 3.1 | 8 |
| Parkinson’s disease | 2.2 | 2.9 | 3.3 |
| Kidney disease | 3 | 2.7 | 8.3 |
| Hypertension | 6.5 | 2.6 | 6.2 |
| Influenza | 5.8 | 2.6 | 6.6 |
- Among physicians only, female physicians had higher mortality rates from neoplasms and chronic lower respiratory diseases compared to male physicians.
Black female physicians had the highest mortality rate among all physician subgroups. - Black healthcare workers had a higher mortality rate than white healthcare workers across all occupations, but the ratio was largest among physicians. The largest mortality ratio differences among Black and white physicians were seen in neoplasms, heart disease and COVID-19.
- “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.”
Read the full study here.
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