May 2003, Vol 93, No. 5 | American Journal of Public Health 771
© 2003 American Public Health Association
Death of a Senator: Life Expectancy and Causes of Death in 20th-Century US Senators
Gabe Feldman, MD, MPH, MBA, MHA, FACPM
Gabe Feldman is with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Gabe Feldman, MD, MPH, MBA, MHA, FACPM, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2 Lafayette St, 20th Floor, CN #46, New York, NY 10007 (e-mail: gfeldman{at}health.nyc.gov).
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INTRODUCTION
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The only prior study of mortality in US senators suggested that the mean life expectancy of 20th-century US senators was 6 years less than that of an overall White male US reference population.1,2 The only current physician in the Senate has raised doubts about this finding.3 A case series of all expired US senators born in the 20th century was studied to settle the issue.
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METHODS
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Persons born after 1899, who were ever elected to the US Senate and who were known to have expired on or before December 31, 1999, were included. Data collection and review were conducted at the offices of the historian of the US Senate in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the Internet.4 The Senate historian assigned each senator a political philosophy designation of conservative, moderate, or liberal. Death certificates were not obtained. Information on body mass index or tobacco and alcohol use could not be gleaned from official senator portfolios.
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RESULTS
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According to the Senate historian, only 1 elected senator born in the 20th century was known to be alive at the study’s end, and he was excluded from the analysis. Ninety-two senators met the inclusion criteria. All were White males who had been married at least once. The median year of birth was 1908, and the median year of death was 1986. Fifty-nine percent were Democrats, and 41% were Republicans. Sixty-six percent were lawyers, 13% were businesspersons, 11% were journalists, and 10% had other professions. Nineteen percent were Episcopalians, 17% were Methodists, 17% were Catholics, 11% were Presbyterians, 10% were Baptists, 5% were Christian, 4% were Jewish, and another 1% each were Congregationalist, Mason, Lutheran, Unitarian, Protestant, Quaker, and Greek Orthodox. Religious identification was unclear in the remaining 10% of the group. Fifty percent of the study group was assessed to be liberal, 28% were conservative, and 22% were moderates.
The mean age at death of the study group was 72.7 ± 13.3 years. Compared with a US cohort of White males who had already lived to age 40,2 US senators had a longer mean total life expectancy (72.7 ± 13.3 vs 69.3 ± 2.0). However, this comparison did not reach statistical significance because of the small sample size of the study group.
The main causes of death in the senators were coronary artery disease (33%), cancer (25%), stroke (10%), pneumonia (8%), Alzheimer’s dementia (4%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (4%). Of the 23 deaths from cancer, the most common sites were lung (24%), gastrointestinal (17%), hematological (17%), and genitourinary (13%). Six (7%) senators died from suicide, homicide, or airplane crashes.
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DISCUSSION
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US senators born in the 20th century had a mean life expectancy that was statistically similar to that of White US males generally, and the study group had similar causes of death.5 The evidence presented here does not support findings from a prior study that suggested that US male senators do not live as long as their age- and sex-matched constituents.
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Acknowledgments
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All direct and indirect support was provided by the American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia.
The author thanks the Historian of the US Senate, Richard Baker, PhD, and Greta Greer, MSW, for their assistance.
Human Participant Protection
The study was deemed exempt from protocol approval by the Emory University institutional review board.
Accepted for publication December 30, 2002.
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References
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1. Longevity of U.S. senators. Stat Bull. May 1969.
2. Jacobson PH. Cohort survival for generations since 1840. Milbank Memorial Fund Q. 1964;42:36–53.
3. Crowley M. Questions for Bill Frist. New York Times Magazine. May 5, 2002:13.
4. Biography of the U.S. Congress. Available at: http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl. Accessed December 21, 1998.
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality patterns—United States, 1997. JAMA. 1999;282:1512–1513.[Free Full Text]
Copyright © 2003 by the American Public Health Association
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INTRODUCTION
METHODS
