Originally published November 11 2005
Harvard researchers find intelligent children live longer lives
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Laurie T. Martin and Laura D. Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health authored a study that found that children with high IQ test scores tend to live longer than children with lower IQs.
Smarter children may enjoy longer lives, the results of a new study suggest.
The study, which followed elderly adults deemed gifted by childhood IQ tests, found that the higher their early IQs were, the longer they lived -- up to a point, at least.
Dr. Laurie T. Martin and Laura D. Kubzansky of the Harvard School of Public Health report these findings in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Though the reasons for the link between IQ and longevity are not clear, it does not appear to be merely a reflection of income and social position.
As children, the participants were from affluent families and most were white.
Yet childhood IQ was still a factor in their lifespan.
Similarly, in an earlier study of Americans with more varied childhood IQs and family incomes, Martin found that IQ was related to health problems independently of socioeconomics.
This, she told Reuters Health, suggests that IQ affects longevity among lower-income people as well.
As research has already linked IQ to mortality, the current study, according to Martin, was in part an attempt to see how far the IQ-health advantage extends.
The researchers expected there to be a cutoff at which a high IQ no longer brought any extra health benefits.
IQs of 163 or higher are not often seen; the average IQ score in the general population is 100 (by definition), and children who score above 130 are considered "gifted."
The researchers found that, up to the cutoff point of 163, participants' risk of dying during a given period decreased as their IQ increased; for example, those with a childhood IQ of 150 had a 44 percent lower risk of death than those with an IQ of 135.
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