Mortality of top athletes actors and clergy in Po

Authors: Antoni K Gajewski Anna Poznańska

Publish Date: 2008/03/28

Volume: 23, Issue: 5, Pages: 335-340

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Abstract

Although a regular moderate physical activity is commonly accepted as an important heath promoting factor the role of professional sport training is still under debate The presented mortality analysis concerning the period of 1946–2000 was performed for three groups of people completely healthy in youth but exhibiting different physical activity level in those days all Polish athletes who participated in the Olympic Games 1689 males 424 females drama actors/actresses 2406/1938 and monks/nuns 796/323 In all studied cohorts mortality was lower than that of gender adjusted Polish urban population The SMR values equaled 050 for male athletes 078 for actors 064 for monks and respectively 073 084 and 077 for corresponding female cohorts Moreover the direct comparison indicated that the mortality of male athletes was significantly lower than that of actors and monks the agestandardized rate ratio of death were equal 064 and 081 respectively The sportsmen also exhibited the longest mean survival The similar but not statistically significant trends were observed for female cohorts All the obtained results proved that high level physical activity in youth positively influenced men’s mortality what was observed for the former athletes even after 40 years since the end of their professional carrierThe authors thank following persons for sharing the data from personal registers Mr Kazimierz Kaczor President of Polish Actors Association mother Nina prioress of the General House of Sisters of Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary in Szymanów Poland brother Grzegorz Sucheński Secretary of the Warsaw Province in the Order of Capuchins Friars Minor and brother Józef Marecki Secretary of the Krakow Province in the Order of Capuchins Friars Minor We are also very grateful to dr Bogdan Wojtyniak from the Department of Medical Statistics National Institute of Hygiene in Warsaw for his methodological expert advice

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