Longitudinal cohort study of childhood IQ and survival up to age 76

Whalley, Lawrence J.; Deary, Ian J.

doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7290.819

Cited by 418 publications

(375 citation statements)

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“…Several studies over the past two decades allude to this, as they have reported strong associations between a broader set of cognitive abilities and the aforementioned health outcomes associated with literacy skills. [13][14][15][16][17] In general, poorer cognitive performance has been linked to less health knowledge, poorer medication adherence, worse physical and mental health, and greater mortality risk. [18][19][20][21][22] A significant relationship is already known to exist between literacy and cognitive skills.…”

Section: Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Literacy, Cognitive Function, and Health: Results of the LitCog Study

et al. 2012

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BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes could be explained by cognitive abilities. OBJECTIVE:To investigate to what degree cognitive skills explain associations between health literacy, performance on common health tasks, and functional health status. DESIGN: Two face-to-face, structured interviews spaced a week apart with three health literacy assessments and a comprehensive cognitive battery measuring 'fluid' abilities necessary to learn and apply new information, and 'crystallized' abilities such as background knowledge. SETTING: An academic general internal medicine practice and three federally qualified health centers in Chicago, Illinois. PATIENTS: Eight hundred and eighty-two Englishspeaking adults ages 55 to 74. MEASUREMENTS: Health literacy was measured using the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM), Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA), and Newest Vital Sign (NVS). Performance on common health tasks were globally assessed and categorized as 1) comprehending print information, 2) recalling spoken information, 3) recalling multimedia information, 4) dosing and organizing medication, and 5) healthcare problem-solving. RESULTS: Health literacy measures were strongly correlated with fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities (range: r=0.57 to 0.77, all p<0.001). Lower health literacy and weaker fluid and crystallized abilities were associated with poorer performance on healthcare tasks. In multivariable analyses, the association between health literacy and task performance was substantially reduced once fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities were entered into models (without cognitive abilities: β=−28.9, 95 % Confidence Interval (CI) -31.4

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Section: Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Literacy, Cognitive Function, and Health: Results of the LitCog Study

et al. 2012

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“…These include not only mortality 18 and disability 16 , but also occupational exposures 32 . Moreover, mental ability at age 11 is itself related to events earlier in life including those before birth 15 .…”

Section: Future Uses Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identifying the period when IQ-associated health inequalities arise is important not only for the timing of possible interventions, but also allows inferences to be drawn about which mechanisms are involved. Previously, we hypothesised four pathways along which childhood IQ might affect survival: 1) as a record of bodily insults in early childhood, 2) as an indicator of system integrity, 3) as a predictor of health behaviours, and 4) as a predictor of entry into safer environments 18 . The first pathway implies that individual differences in health arise early in life and the second favours an increase with age as degenerative processes become more important.…”

Section: Future Uses Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The participants have been followed up for mortality and cancer since inception, and have recently been linked with the Scottish Morbidity Records (SMR) system, enabling data on physical and mental illness to be investigated. 16 , related to lifetime psychiatric contact 17 , and a risk factor for mortality 18 and for senile but not pre-senile dementia in later life 19 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health

et al. 2003

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“…Relations between cognitive functioning and longevity have been shown to span multiple decades of the lifespan and to persist even after adjusting for socio-economic advantage, sensorimotor capabilities, self-reported health status, and a host of medical conditions (Anstey, Luszcz, Giles, & Andrews, 2001; Bosworth, Schaie, & Willis, 1999;Fried et al, 1998;Small & Bäckman, 1997;Whalley & Deary, 2001). In two large sample studies, the predictive strength of cognitive performance in relation to mortality risk was found to approach that of smoking, eclipsing the influence of variables such as body…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life span decrements in fluid intelligence and processing speed predict mortality risk.

Aichele

Rabbitt

Ghisletta

2015

Psychology and Aging

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We examined lifespan changes in five domains of cognitive performance as predictive of mortality risk. Data came from the Manchester Longitudinal Study of Cognition, a 20-plus year investigation of 6203 individuals aged 42-97 years. Cognitive domains included crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence, verbal memory, visual memory, and processing speed. Lifespan decrements were evident across these domains, controlling for baseline performance at age 70 and adjusting for retest effects. Survival analyses stratified by sex and conducted independently by cognitive domain showed that lower baseline performance levels in all domains-and larger lifespan decrements in fluid intelligence and processing speed-were predictive of increased mortality risk for both females and males. Critically, analyses of the combined predictive power of cognitive performance variables showed that baseline levels of processing speed (in females) and fluid intelligence (in males), and decrements in processing speed (in females and in males) and fluid intelligence (in females), accounted for most of the explained variation in mortality risk. In light of recent evidence from brain imaging studies, we speculate that cognitive abilities closely linked to cerebral white matter integrity (such as processing speed and fluid intelligence) may represent particularly sensitive markers of mortality risk. Additionally, we presume that greater complexity in cognition-survival associations observed in females (in analyses incorporating all cognitive predictors) may be a consequence of longer and more variable cognitive declines in females relative to males. KEYWORDS: cognition, survival, aging, processing speed, fluid intelligence

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Longitudinal cohort study of childhood IQ and survival up to age 76

Abstract: Objectives To test the association between childhood IQ and mortality over the normal human lifespan. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Aberdeen.

Cited by 418 publications

References 20 publications

Literacy, Cognitive Function, and Health: Results of the LitCog Study

Literacy, Cognitive Function, and Health: Results of the LitCog Study

The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health

Life span decrements in fluid intelligence and processing speed predict mortality risk.

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