American white Protestant clergy as a low-risk population for mortality research.

An examination of 28,134 clergymen in five predominantly white Protestant denominations, 1950--60, showed a more favorable mortality for these clergymen for all causes of deaths, total cancers, and cardiovascular-renal diseases compared with the mortality for U.S. white males, total U.S. males with work experience, and total U.S. white clergymen. The standardized mortality ratios for cancer of the lung and non-motor-vehicle accidents were particularly depressed. However, those for diabetes, leukemia, and cancers of the prostate gland and, to a lesser extent, lymphoma and cancers of the intestine and pancreas were not significantly different from 100. The findings were interpreted in the social class contest, with emphasis on cross-national investigations and critical assessment of clerical statistics.