Linguistic Ability in Early Life and Longevity: Findings from the Nun Study

Snowdon, David A.; Greiner, Lydia H.; Kemper, Susan; Nanayakkara, Nuwan D.; Mortimer, James A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-60100-2_9

Cited by 43 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Nine studies met our inclusion criteria (12)(13)(14)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Their characteristics and results are listed in Table 1.…”

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the preponderance of studies using the latter design, most were well characterized for covariate data, a common problem in such investigations (see Discussion section). Drawing on individuals from Australia (22), Denmark (13), England and Wales (12), Scotland (24)(25)(26), Sweden (14,21), and the United States (23), most, but not all (22,23), study samples were representative of their general populations. All study populations appeared to be Caucasian.…”

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All study populations appeared to be Caucasian. Cohort size ranged between 180(23) and 49,262 persons (14), and number of deaths varied from 58 (23) to 2022 (24). Five studies were males and females (12,21,(24)(25)(26), three studies were males only (13,14,22), and one study included solely females (23).…”

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measurement Of Iqmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IQ was assessed between 1932 (24) and 1971 (13,22), with age at measurement ranging from 8 (12) to 22 years (23). With one exception (23), for which cognitive ability was inferred from written autobiographies, study populations were administered a standard IQ test of the period. These were either group administered (usually by teachers who paced children through the test) (13,24) or individually administered (respondents were self-paced) (22).…”

Section: Measurement Of Iqmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

Batty

Deary

Gottfredson³

2007

Annals of Epidemiology

422

347

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PURPOSE: Studies of middle-aged and particularly older-aged adults found that those with higher scores on tests of IQ (cognitive function) had lower rates of later mortality. Interpretation of such findings potentially is hampered by the problem of reverse causality: such somatic diseases as diabetes or hypertension, common in older adults, can decrease cognitive function. Studies that provide extended follow-up of the health experience of individuals who had their (premorbid) IQ assessed in childhood and/or early adulthood minimize this concern. The purpose of the present report is to systematically locate, evaluate, and interpret the findings of all such studies. METHODS: We systematically identified individual-level studies linking premorbid IQ with later mortality by using four approaches: search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PSYCHINFO); scrutiny of the reference sections of identified reports; search of our own files; and contact with researchers in the field. Study quality was assessed by using predefined criteria. RESULTS: Nine cohort studies met the inclusion criteria. Overall, study quality was moderate. All reports showed an inverse IQ-mortality relation; i.e., higher IQ scores were associated with decreased mortality risk. The nature of this relation (i.e., dose-response or threshold) and whether it differs by sex was unclear. The IQ-mortality association did not appear to be explained by reverse causality or selection bias. Confounding by other early-life factors also did not seem to explain the association, although some studies were not well characterized in this regard. Adult socioeconomic position appeared to mediate the IQ-mortality association in some studies, but this was not a universal finding. CONCLUSIONS: In all studies, higher IQ in the first two decades of life was related to lower rates of total mortality in middle to late adulthood. Some plausible mechanistic pathways exist, but further examination is required. The precise nature of the IQ-mortality relation (particularly in ethnic minorities and women) and the link between IQ and disease-specific outcomes also warrants further research. Ann Epidemiol -;-:-. Ó

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“…Nine studies met our inclusion criteria (12)(13)(14)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Their characteristics and results are listed in Table 1.…”

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Identified Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measurement Of Iqmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measurement Of Iqmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

Batty

Deary

Gottfredson³

2007

Annals of Epidemiology

422

347

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

A Rubric for Extracting Idea Density from Oral Language Samples

et al. 2012

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While past research has demonstrated that low idea density (ID) scores from natural language samples correlate with late life risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease pathology, there are no published rubrics for collecting and analyzing language samples for idea density to verify or extend these findings into new settings. This paper outlines the history of ID research and findings, discusses issues with past rubrics, and then presents an operationalized method for the systematic measurement of ID in language samples, with an extensive manual available as a supplement to this article (Analysis of Idea Density, AID). Finally, reliability statistics for this rubric in the context of dementia research on aging populations and verification that AID can replicate the significant association between ID and late life cognition are presented.

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Schooling, cognitive ability and health

2005

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A large literature documents a strong correlation between health and educational outcomes. In this paper we investigate the role of cognitive ability in the health-education nexus. Using NLSY data, we show that one standard deviation increase in cognitive ability is associated with roughly the same increase in health as two years of schooling and that cognitive ability accounts for roughly one quarter of the association between schooling and health. Both schooling and ability are strongly associated with health at low levels but less related or unrelated at high levels. Estimates treating schooling as endogenous to health suggest that much of the correlation between schooling and health is attributable to unobserved heterogeneity; the causal effect of schooling on health is large only for respondents with low levels of schooling and low cognitive ability. An implication is that policies which increase schooling will only increase health to the extent that they increase the education of poorly-educated individuals. Subsidies to college education, for example, are unlikely to increase population health.

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Linguistic Ability in Early Life and Longevity: Findings from the Nun Study

Cited by 43 publications

References 17 publications

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

Premorbid (early life) IQ and Later Mortality Risk: Systematic Review

A Rubric for Extracting Idea Density from Oral Language Samples

Schooling, cognitive ability and health

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