Conclusions
Mortality trends observed in the general population were also present among physicians in Espírito Santo. However, contrary to the general population pattern, average death age was lower in women. Early mortality caused many lost years of life, especially among women.
Methods
This is a descriptive study of secondary data from the Mortality Information System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The distribution of socio-demographic variables and of basic cause of death was studied by absolute and relative frequencies. Potential years of life lost in each death were considered the years remaining from age at death up to the age limit of 70 years.
Results
There were 20 deaths of female physicians (14.5%) and 118 (85.5%) of male physicians, with predominance of whites (87.9%) and married (56%) individuals. The main causes of death were neoplasms (39.1%), diseases of the circulatory system (19.6%), and external causes (19.6%). The majority of female and male deaths occurred from 60 to 69 years, but average death was significantly lower among women compared to men (respectively 58.3 and 67.0 years). Potential years of life lost totaled 1,226 years, with a mean of 14.6, which was greater in women (20.4) compared to men (13.4). Conclusions: Mortality trends observed in the general population were also present among physicians in Espírito Santo. However, contrary to the general population pattern, average death age was lower in women. Early mortality caused many lost years of life, especially among women.