Do variegated leaves have a shorter lifespan relative to their non-variegated counterparts?

My Variegated Pink lemon has been slowly shedding its leaves since mid to late autumn and is now looking rather sparse. The leaf drop appears to be normal since the leaves have their petioles still attached. However the leaves being shed are only about a year old. The non-variegated trees seem to keep theirs much longer - closer to the two year mark. Have you observed the same?

I took notes about lifespan of leaves of Siscia lemon, leaves are regular (non-variegated) and lived up to 2 years. More detailed report will be posted later, under topic devoted to Siscia lemon.

My observation on leaves of variegated Meyer lemon during summer 2011 - winter 2011/2012:
Non-green portions of leaves are more susceptible to heat shocks (hot and cold), i.e. to sunburn and to frost-burn, and those are first to go under heat shock.
Above do not answer question about lifespan but gives info about vulnerability.

Off-topic but interesting to note, JoeReal's observation on hardiness of variegated citrus trees:

JoeReal link wrote:

Sometimes, unexpected things are observed. I found my variegated citruses to be more tolerant of full hot sun and at the same time are slightly cold hardier than their regular counterparts. But if they are partially shaded, they would develop better looking and bigger foliage which I love about them.

According to all above, variegated tree is more hardy than regular tree but variegated portions are less hardy than regular portions.
With "hardy" I mean "heat shock (hot and cold) tolerant/resistant".

The part of the leaf that contain no or very little chlorophyll does not last very long if left in direct sun. They last much longer in shade, but still do not last as long as green leaves. Many times the part of the leaf without chlorophyll will disintegrate & fall away, leaving only the green portion of the leaf if left in direct sun.