title: Cancer Prevalence among Physicians in Korea: A Single Center Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is little research regarding whether working as a physician affects cancer risk. Moreover, there is no research on cancer prevalence among physicians in Korea. This study utilized the Korea National Cancer Incidence Database to determine whether the prevalence of cancer among physicians differs from the prevalence of cancer within the general population.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the medical records of a representative sample of 382 doctors who underwent a health examination between 2010 and 2013 at a health examination center in a Ewha Womans University Medical Center.Cancer incidence was measured as cases that were eventually diagnosed as cancer according to a biopsy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We collected medical records from 382 physicians (mean age, 51.9±8.1 years) and calculated the standardized prevalence ratios compared to the general population. Thirty physicians (9 male and 21 female) were identified as having cancer. Physicians had a significantly higher prevalence of cancer compared to the general population.Cancer prevalence in male physicians was found to be 2.47 times higher than the prevalence expected within the general population (P=0.006). Among female physicians, cancer prevalence was 3.94 times higher than that in the general population (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed that physicians had a higher prevalence of cancer compared to the general population in Korea, which suggests that there may be a problem present in the health care of physicians. Changes to the working environment of physicians will be needed to reduce the high prevalence of cancer among physicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hye Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hae Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yun Hye
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Sim
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun Young
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung Won
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Wha
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong Soo
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyejin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chun
keywords: Cancer; Korea; Physicians; Prevalence