Fame and Fortune Bring Faster Death--New York Times Obituary Analysis:

Jojy Cheriyan MD;MPH- April 18,2013

Scientific studies have contributed more than enough evidence showing the correlation between occupation and death. We know that some occupations can lead to early death, may be due to cancers or accidents or other risk factors. Same with some habits too, like smoking or alcohol, causing early death.

But this new analysis done with around 1000 obituaries in New York Times is an eye opener, and has been published yesterday April 17,2013 (online before print) in the OXFORD JOURNALS- International Journal of Medicine.

Obituaries reported in the NEW YORK TIMES are reputedly devoted to famous, influential and high profile people whose deaths will be major news to the whole world.

In this study the researchers classified the famous obituaries broadly into Performers, Creative workers and Academics. Performers included film actors, singers, musicians and dancers. Creative workers included writers, composers, artists and photographers., and Academics included historians, linguists, philosophers and economists.

These occupational subgroups were further consolidated to create four key categories: (i) performance/sports, (ii) creative/writing, (iii) business/military/political and (iv) professional/academic/religious and (v) others.

The results of the analysis showed that people who were famous and successful in performance related careers had shorter life, typically due to smoking and other risky behaviors. Lung cancer took the lives of 7% of performers and athletes.

But those who achieved their fame in professional, academic, business, military and political careers lived longer than average.

The researchers found that the occupations associated with the shortest lifespans were athletes (77.4 years), performers (77.1 years), and nonperformers who worked in creative fields, such as authors, composers, and artists (78.5 years).

Occupations associated with longer lives were politics (82.1 years), business (83.3 years), and the military (84.7 years).

Even though this study was skewed with more men (813) than women (186), the mean age of death for athletes and performers was lower (in seventies).

More women than men died before the age of seventy. Cancer (43%) and Cardiovascular diseases(31 %) were the main causes attributed to over 74% of New York Times obituaries.

This is in contrast to the Average life expectancy of an American man (75.6 years) and an American woman (80.8 years).

Some previous studies have shown that the use of ‘recreational’ drugs, such as alcohol and cannabis, has long been associated with creativity, while addictive psychoactive drugs, such as anxiolytics and opiates, have been implicated in performance-enhancing behaviors and coping strategies. Risk behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking and other drug abuse may likewise occur more often in adolescents who academically underperform yet remain heavily involved in sports.

This study has lot of limitations and drawbacks. But the cause of death and longevity of famous people raise some questions and lessons to young persons who are going to make his or her mark in the world, especially performance arts and sports.

The message from this study is that young talented men and women have to prepare themselves to deal with high-stress environments and should protect themselves from the temptations of risky behaviors.

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