Having a high intelligence quotient in childhood is associated with a reduced risk of dying from heart disease, dementia, or cancer before age 80.
Brilliant children would have a longer life expectancy than others, reports a scottish study published in The British Medical Journal. This work shows, in fact, that a high intelligence quotient (IQ) level is associated with a reduced risk of death at the age of 79 years.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) came to this conclusion after studying more than 65,000 men and women born in 1936 who took an IQ test at the age of 11. That is almost 90% of the population born that year, making it one of the largest studies ever conducted on the subject.
National registers have enabled scientists to find out the causes of death for all those who lost their lives before December 2015. The research team notably assessed the risks of dying from cardiovascular disease, smoking-related cancers, respiratory disorders or dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Less risk of stroke or suicide
The results indicate that a high level of IQ is linked to a risk of dying from respiratory disease decreased by about two-thirds compared to a low level of IQ. Likewise, the brightest children have a halving risk of dying from stroke, smoking-related cancer, or digestive disease compared to their classmates.
As for the risk of dementia or death by suicide, the risks are reduced by at least a third if the intelligence quotient is high. “In contrast, no link has been observed with cancerous diseases unrelated to smoking such as skin cancer,” note the researchers.
Social inequalities
For the authors, these results do not indicate that the intelligence quotient is a protective factor. They only show an association. The researchers explain that this link can be explained in part by a better level of education or by easier access to quality treatment.
In a recent report, INSEE noted that “the gap between the life expectancy of higher education graduates and non-graduates is greater among men (7.5 years) than among women (4.2 years ) ”. The reasons for these disparities? The less educated, often more precarious, have more tendency to consume in excess of alcohol, to smoke or to have a bad diet. They are also more subject to a difficult professional environment, and potentially toxic.
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