Comparison of cancer and all-cause death rates of Australian rock and pop musicians, footballers, cricketers and the general population

Introduction

Multiple international studies, including some from Australia, have found that professional and elite athletes have lower death rates/greater life expectancy than the general population. By contrast, international rock and pop musicians have been found to die prematurely compared to the general population, although no studies have focused on Australian musicians specifically.

Methods

Death rates and life expectancy were compared for cohorts of Australian rock and pop musicians, male VFL/AFL footballers and male Sheffield Shield cricketers and the general Australian population, for the years 1971–2022 inclusive. Data were sourced from Wikipedia.

Results

A cohort of 655 Australian rock and pop musicians showed an increased Standardized Mortality Rate (SMR) of 1.35 (95% CI 1.07–1.71). The rate of cancer deaths in musicians showed an even higher SMR of 1.85 (95% CI 1.32–2.59). The male Australian football, SMR 0.77 (95% CI 0.74–0.80), and cricket, SMR 0.71 (95% CI 0.64–0.78), athlete cohorts showed significantly decreased death rates compared to the general Australian male population. Life expectancy for the male athlete groups after age 20 roughly tracked the superior life expectancy of the general Australian female population, whereas life expectancy for the male musician group was slightly inferior to the general Australian male population.

Discussion

The likely increase in cancer deaths in Australian musicians could be explained by substance exposure (alcohol, tobacco, both active and passive, and perhaps other illicit substances), although this causation was not specifically assessed as part of our study. Unlike other international musician cohorts, we did not observe a high rate of deaths directly due to drug overdose in the 3rd and 4th decades of life. The likely explanation for the better health of the athlete cohorts is the known survival benefit of high levels of exercise (primarily through reduced cardiovascular disease and cancers).