TORONTO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Being a medical school class president might do wonders for your ego, but a new University of Toronto study suggests it could take years off your life.
Dr. Donald Redelmeier, lead author of the study, said being elected a medical school class president is a distinctive event that signifies ambition, popularity and success. But Redelmier says such a post may also be associated with harmful status-seeking behaviors -- tendencies that impair family relationships and limit such activities as exercise time.
Redelmeier and co-author Dr. Jeffrey Kwong, a former University of Toronto medical class president, compared the long-term survival of 1,521 physicians, including all class presidents, who graduated from the school during the past century.
The researchers found overall life expectancy was 2.4 fewer years for presidents than for their classmates; with the average lifespan after graduation of all surveyed being 50 years.
The findings appear in a recent issue of the journal Social Science and Medicine.
