Alzheimer’s disease mortality among taxi and ambulance drivers: population based cross sectional study
Objective To analyze mortality attributed to Alzheimer’s disease among taxi drivers and ambulance drivers, occupations that demand frequent spatial and navigational processing, compared with other occupations. Design Population based cross-sectional study. Setting Use of death certificates from the National Vital Statistics System in the United States, which were linked to occupation, 1 January 2020-31 December 2022. Participants Deceased adults aged 18 years and older. Main outcomes measures Among 443 occupations studied, percentage of deaths attributed to Alzheimer’s disease for taxi drivers and ambulance drivers and each of the remaining 441 occupations, adjusting for age at death and other sociodemographic factors. Results Of 8 972 221 people who had died with occupational information, 3.88% (348 328) had Alzheimer’s disease listed as a cause of death. Among taxi drivers, 1.03% (171/16 658) died from Alzheimer’s disease, while among ambulance drivers, the rate was 0.74% (10/1348).