High IQ in children linked to longer life

Children with high IQS are likely to live significantly longer than their less-intelligent peers, according to a study.

Researchers at Edinburgh University, Oxford and University College London followed more than 65,000 people who took part in The Scottish Mental Survey in 1947 and discovered that by the age of 79, people who had a high IQ as children had a lower risk of dying from heart disease, stroke and cancer.

SCHOOL swots who faced a ribbing from their classmates for being too brainy will have the last laugh, according to a study which found high IQ in childhood is linked to a longer life.

Researchers at Edinburgh University, Oxford and University College London followed up more than 65,000 people who took part in The Scottish Mental Survey in 1947, to find out if intelligence as a youngster had affected their life, and death.

They discovered that by the age of 79, having a high IQ lowered the risk of dying from heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory diseases. They also had a lower risk of dying from injuries, digestive diseases and dementia.

“I’m being optimistic about these results,” said Prof Ian Deary, of the University of Edinburgh, who led the research.

“I’m hoping it means that if we can find out what smart people do and copy them, then we have a chance of a slightly longer and healthier life.

“We don’t fully know yet why intelligence from childhood and longevity are related, and we are keeping an open mind. Lifestyles – such as not smoking – education, health, literacy, less deprivation and genetics might all play a part.”

The lower risk of death remained even when accounting for factors which could have influenced the results, such as age, sex and socio-economic status.

Deprivation, such as unemployment, overcrowding, and other adverse conditions are thought to account for only about 30 per cent of the Iq-mortality correlation. Every extra 15 IQ points was associated with a 28 per cent reduced risk of death from respiratory disease, a 25 per cent reduced risk of death from coronary heart disease, and a 24 per cent lower risk of death from stroke.

It means that a person with an IQ of 115 was 28 per cent more likely to have avoided death from respiratory disease at age 76 than a person with an IQ of 100 (the average for the general population); 15 more IQ points also cut the chance of dying from bladder cancer by 19 per cent, lung cancer by 25 per cent and bowel cancer by 11 per cent.

The researchers said people with higher IQS are more likely to look after their health and less likely to smoke. They tend to do more exercise, wear their seatbelts and seek medical attention when ill. The research was published in the British Medical Journal.