Elected heads of government have a greater risk of early death, according to a team of researchers led by Anupam Jena at Harvard Medical School. The researchers compared 279 nationally elected leaders from 17 countries to 261 leader candidates who never served in office, finding that after adjusting for life expectancy at the time of the last election, elected leaders lived 2.7 fewer years and experienced a 23% greater risk of death compared to runners-up. “This suggests that the stress of governing may substantially accelerate mortality for our elected leaders,” said Jena, who is also a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Source: Election Risk
