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A sharper
mind may mean a longer life,
a study out of the UK suggests. Researchers found that mental
prowess during childhood predicted longevity among more than
2,200 older adults who took IQ tests as 11-year-olds in 1932.
The investigators tracked down men and
women who had taken school IQ tests in Aberdeen, Scotland.
They found that the higher
the then-elderly adults had scored on their school
tests, the lower their
odds of dying by age 76.
For example, a woman who had scored 115
on the IQ test was twice
as likely as a woman who had recorded an 85 to
be alive at the time of the study. Among men with these same
scores, those with the higher score were 32% more likely to
still be alive.
It is well known that people of lower
income face the prospect of poorer health and an earlier death.
Income and social status, education and mental ability are
all closely related. However, they write, little is known
about whether there is a link between IQ and death risk.
In their study, the
relationship between childhood IQ and death risk remained
after they considered "social factors"
such as father's occupation and overcrowding in the childhood
home -- a sign, they say, of "social disadvantage."
The researchers looked at IQ in order
to add to what is known about the childhood factors that are
associated with health later in life.
For example, a growing body of research
suggests that adult health is influenced by the earliest stages
of life. Low birth weight, for instance, has been linked in
some studies to increased risk of high blood pressure, kidney
disease and heart disease in adulthood.
Many factors -- from genetics to lifestyle
habits -- may explain the association between childhood IQ
and death risk. An 11-year-old's IQ may reflect prenatal development,
childhood nutrition and other early factors.
And a child
with a higher IQ may be more likely to take up exercise and
healthful eating habits, and shun smoking, drinking and other
health risks.
British Medical
Journal April 7, 2001;322:819-822
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