You May Live Longer With a Younger Doctor, Study Says

A study by Harvard University researchers says you might want to rethink making an older doctor your physician.

The study, which was published in the British Medical Journal, showed older doctors tended to have higher mortality rates than their younger counterparts.

More than 700,000 patients and nearly 19,000 physicians participated in the study. All of the patients in the study were 65 and over and on Medicare. After adjusting for patient, doctor and hospital characteristics, the study’s findings revealed that patient mortality rates steadily increased with a doctor’s age.

Doctors under 40 had a mortality rate of 10.8%, doctors aged 40 to 49 had a rate of 11.1%, doctors 50 to 59 had a rate of 11.3%, and doctors 60 and over had a rate of 12.1%, according to the study.