Ionizing Radiation and Longevity of Physicians

There is an admitted difference between radiologists and physicians in general as to their average age at death, but the assumed explanation, that exposure to ionizing radiations shortens life, should not be accepted uncritically. Radiology is one of the newest of medical specialties. The distribution of radiologists into age groups differs from that of physicians in general. There are proportionately fewer radiologists in the older age groups, in which the force of mortality is heaviest. The expected age distribution at death is here recalculated on this basis, using first data from 1940, then data from 1 950. The results do not support the hypothesis that exposure to ionizing radiation has shortened the life of the radiologists; the difference between radiologists and other physicians as to the average age at death can be accounted for simply by differences in age composition between the two groups.