Left Handedness Decreases Lifespan

"Analyses of such data can cause serious problems. A good example is the highly dubious finding that left handed people die on average seven years younger than right handed people.2 In this study those dying at old ages were survivors from a cohort born 70 or more years ago while those dying young may have been born at any time, and so on average will have been born later. Such studies make strong implicit assumptions---in essence that the prevalence of the risk factor(s), the characteristics of the population at risk, and the survival (prognosis) remain unchanged over many decades.3 These assumptions will usually be untenable and may also be untestable. Using this study design we would certainly find that people who use electric guitars or even personal computers die much younger than those who do not. The differing longevity in relation to handedness2 would have arisen if the prevalence of left handedness had increased over the past 80 years. Proper prospective studies have found no evidence of an effect of handedness on lifespan. 4 5"

Quotation from:

British Medical Journal

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