How to get on course for a longer life

A rate of 30.66 per cent for divinity was regarded as unreliable by the researchers because the sample was small and the students tended to be older than the average age of 20 when they were examined by the university.

Peter McCarron, from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast, who conducted the research, said that subject choices influenced a student’s economic position in later life and, as a rule, the richer they became, the healthier they were.

The most recent data on life expectancy shows that male members of the professional and managerial classes reach an average age of 78.5, compared with an age of 71.1 for unskilled workers.

Arts students were less likely to gain a secure, well-paid job, making them more likely to be stressed and malnourished.

They were also more likely to come from a poor background — which has influences on lifespan — with the lowest proportion of fathers coming from the top two social classes (46.7 per cent, compared with 68.4 per cent in medicine).

They were also more likely to smoke, and consequently had twice the rate of deaths from lung cancer and respiratory disease as those in the healthiest categories.

Science and engineering students were less likely to smoke and more likely to become richer — and therefore healthier.

Medical students also enjoyed the health benefits of later affluence, and even though they smoked the most as students they were also more likely to quit the habit when its damaging effects became apparent.

Medics were found to have a complex relationship with the bottle; an above-average proportion drank regularly and 2.1 per cent died from its direct effects, compared with an average of 1.24 per cent for the other subjects.

Dr McCarron suggested that their low overall mortality could be partly due to the positive health benefits that some studies have shown to come from a moderate intake of alcohol.

Medical students were also more likely to die as a result of accidents, suicide or violence: 1.13 per cent did so, compared with 0.56 per cent of arts students.

Doctors are three times more likely to commit suicide than the national average, which is attributed to the pressures of the job, access to drugs and their knowledge of methods of ending their life.

Law students were most likely to smoke and to drink. Although it was assumed that they would benefit from good career prospects — and thus wealth and health — the researchers say that students in the survey were less likely than medics or scientists to pursue their subject as a career.

Dr McCarron said that the research raised questions about the interplay between personality and subject choice. If arts students conformed to the stereotype of being introspective and depressive, it was not yet clear whether this state of mind contributed to their raised mortality. And, if it did, did the subject affect a student’s mood, or simply attract those personality types in the first place.

The gaps in death rates would be wider for students starting their courses today. This study dates back to a time when only 5 per cent of the population went to university, and most came from the top two social classes.

“Poor socio-economic background also increases the chance of premature death, so those who didn’t attend university at all will have suffered much higher mortality rates,” he said.

More than 40 per cent now go on to higher education, so a greater cross-section of society is making degree choices. The former polytechnics take a disproportionate number of students from working-class backgrounds, so the mortality gap, for example, between an arts student at a new university and a science or engineering student at Oxbridge is likely to be even greater than that revealed in the research.

Despite the role of background, the report concludes that subject choice is still a key determinant of longevity. “Even among individuals who would have had largely affluent childhood social circumstances and who went to university at a time when the majority of the population left school before 16 years, adult employment has effects on later health additional to those due to early life exposures.”

The report adds that smoking is the single most important determinant of mortality.

“With arts and social science students being the most likely to indulge in cigarette smoking, our results suggest that successful strategies to stop this habit would contribute greatly to disease prevention.”

The medic

Death rate of 9.89 per cent. Second most likely to smoke as students, but their willingness to quit later means they have the lowest lung cancer rate (0.56). Most likely to come from affluent social backgrounds. Nearly twice as likely to die from the effects of alcohol, and more than twice as likely to die as a result of accidents, suicide or violence.

The arts student

Highest death rate of 14.81 per cent. Blamed on bad job prospects, high rate of smoking and poor backgrounds. Highest rate of lung cancer (1.27) and second highest rate of heart disease (6.13). But least likely to die a violent, accidental or suicidal death (0.56).

The scientist

Students have the lowest death rate: 8.92 per cent for engineering and 9.25 per cent for science, helped by good employment prospects and consequent ascetic lifestyle. Lung cancer deaths are low (0.58 per cent for engineers, 0.82 per cent for scientists), due to a reluctance to smoke. Lowest rates of heart disease death (3.24 per cent for engineers, 3.45 per cent for scientists).

The law student

Death rate 12.88 per cent. Most likely to smoke and unwilling to give up, giving the second highest lung cancer rate (1.02). Despite law’s reputation as a bankable subject, graduates in this survey were less likely to pursue it as a career, so less of an “affluence effect”. Highest death rate from heart disease (6.15). Most likely to drink, second highest rate of alcohol-related deaths (1.59) and highest rate of accidents, suicide or violence (1.25).

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