Most performers live past the mythical age of 27 – but they still die on average younger than others, researchers reveal today.
In contrast politicians and business leaders tend to enjoy a much higher life expectancy than most people – as do professionals and academics.
The findings come from a study of obituaries in the New York Times, reported in the International Journal of Medicine.
This found that sportspeople and performers had an average age at death of just over 77. Artists and writers reach 78 years and six months.
But professionals and academics had an average age of 81 at death and business, military and political leaders of 83.
The researchers found high rates of lung cancer deaths and of HIV and accidents among performers and creative workers.
Jimi Hendrix died at 27 as did Amy Winehouse and a number of other high profile pop and rock musicians such as Kurt Cobain.
Researcher Professor Richard Epstein, of St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia, said: "It raises some interesting questions. First, if it is true that successful performers and sports players tend to enjoy shorter lives, does this imply that fame at younger ages predisposes to poor health behaviours in later life after success has faded? Or that psychological and family pressures favouring unusually high public achievement lead to self-destructive tendencies throughout life?
"Or that risk-taking personality traits maximise one’s chances of success, with the use of cigarettes, alcohol or illicit drugs improving one’s performance output in the short term? Any of these hypotheses could be viewed as a health warning to young people aspiring to become stars."
C.R. Epstein and R.J. Epstein. Death in the New York Times: the price of fame is a faster flame? QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 18 April 2013 doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hct077
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