Physicians mortality in Uruguay (Second part)
Analysis of death causes from 1998 to 2002
Keywords:
DOCTORS, MORTALITY, URUGUAYAbstract
Background: causes of physicians death have been studied worldwide. A previous study showed diverse results related to general population, women and some specialities.
Objective: to determine death causes of physicians in Uruguay from 1998 to 2002 in order to promote prevention and control actions.
Method: a retrospective transversal study of causes of death occurred from January 1, 1998 to December 31, 2002. Data was obtained from death certifications of the Ministry of Public Health (Ministerio de Salud Pública) in Uruguay. Causes of death were classified according to international categorization (CIE-10), and were subsequently compared to overall values.
Results: the physician population considered accounted for 298 people: 76.6% were men (mean age, 71 years) and 23.4% women (mean age, 60 years). The first cause of death was heart related (35%), neoplasic cause ranked in the second place (30%), and 7% died from violent causes (for this group, mean age of death in women was higher compared to mean age of men).
Discussion: there is a prevalence of chronic diseases: 66% died from diseases which risk factor was smoking and in 38%, risk factor was alcohol. Mortality pattern was similar to overall population, except for women ages of death. Social and labour conditions should be included in further studies.
Conclusions: main causes of death coincide with causes for general population in Uruguay. Rates of respiratory diseases smoking-related and rates of chronic hepatopathies in young physicians.
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