Does a Recent Study Show Surgeons Twice as Likely to Die Than Others?

“Physicians have twice the mortality rate of other physicians!” - anonymous facial plastic surgeon

It was a shock to hear this on my first day at the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) conference in Los Angeles. Health and wellness are increasingly common topics at physician conferences. I heard about the importance of appropriate sleep, diet, and exercise frequently. One facial plastic surgeon even wrote a book on an anti-inflammatory diet which he had adhered to for decades. However, the exclamation above is what stuck with me. It refers to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Surgery that is purported to show that surgeons are twice as likely to die during a given year than other physicians. It certainly frightened me. But was it true? I reviewed the literature to find out. What I found was something much more nuanced but still shocking.

Physicians Have an Overall Lower Mortality Rate than the General Population

Patel V.R. et al published a paper in JAMA Internal Medicine titled “Mortality Among US Physicians and Other Healthcare Workers” as well as a clinical research letter titled “Mortality Among Surgeons in the United States” in JAMA Surgery ( 1, 2). The team evaluated a newly created public database (National Vital Statistics System) and compared it to census data (US Census Bureau) to estimate mortality (death) rates. They compared groups by profession, income, gender, and ethnicity to look for patterns in the data.

They found that physicians had a lower mortality rate than other healthcare workers (e.g. dentists, nurses) and other professionals with similar levels of education and income (e.g. lawyers, engineers, scientists). The survival advantage was even more stark when physicians were compared with individuals considered “middle” or “low” income and who are not in healthcare occupations.

Surgeons Have a Higher Rate of Mortality from Cancer than the General Population

The JAMA Internal Medicine study demonstrated lower mortality rates among physicians when compared with all other groups. This would seem to contradict the proclamations from my colleague. However, the picture becomes more nuanced with a deeper analysis of the data.

Among physicians, surgeons have an approximately 56% - not twice – higher mortality rate than other non-surgeon physicians. Surgeons were more likely than other physicians to die from a motor vehicle collision, hypertension, assault, and cancer. This is significantly higher than other physicians but lower than other groups including non-physician healthcare workers, educated high-income professionals, and others. The picture still seems bright.

The most interesting finding from this data was the mortality rate from cancer among surgeons. It was the major outlier. Not only were surgeons found to die from cancer at a higher rate than other non-surgeon physicians, but they were more likely to die from cancer than all other comparison groups, whether individuals with similar education levels and incomes (e.g. lawyers, engineers, scientists) or pooled together with individuals of all professions and income levels. The reason for this is not clear, though it is a major source of concern whose potential causes should be investigated further.

There Are Real Limits to the Data Used in These Studies

It is very important to note that the data available for these studies was limited by the fact that the database is relatively new. The review of causes of mortality among surgeons was only from 2023 data, while the larger study published in JAMA Internal Medicine consisted of data from 2020 to 2022. A clearer picture of mortality rates and their causes will develop as we gather more years of data.

References

1. Patel VR, Liu M, Worsham CM, Stanford FC, Ganguli I, Jena AB. Mortality Among US Physicians and Other Health Care Workers. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 May 1;185(5):563-571.
2. Patel VR, Stearns SA, Liu M, Tsai TC, Jena AB. Mortality Among Surgeons in the United States. JAMA Surg. 2025 Sep 1;160(9):1032-1034.