Why left handed people die earlier

Looking at 2, cases, they saw that the average age at death of the left-handers was about nine years younger than of the right-handers. On that basis, they concluded that left-handers died earlier. At first glance, that seems persuasive. What did the researchers do wrong?

The point is that left-handers are more common now than they used to be, so - at least at the time the research was published - left-handers were on average younger than right-handers.

Not only would left-handed people have been encouraged not to be during this period, life was also pretty difficult for them and they quickly became very conspicuous. The result of all of this was that left-handers became stigmatised - regarded as cack-handed, stupid.

So, some of the people who had died on those Californian lists may well have been born left-handed, but spent most of their lives acting and identifying as right-handers.

Left-handers tend to die, on average, about nine years earlier than right-handers, according to a surprising and controversial new study published today by California and Canadian researchers. In analyzing data on nearly 1, deaths in San Bernardino and Riverside counties over a period of several months, two psychologists found that male and female left-handers were much more likely to die as a result of industrial and vehicular accidents, and somewhat more likely to die from other causes.

The researchers attributed much of the dramatic increase in accidental deaths to the fact that most machines are designed for right-handers. Certain neurological and immunological defects often associated with left-handedness were also thought to play a role in the shortened life spans. The study is the first to suggest that the previously documented susceptibility of left-handers to accidents is associated with increased mortality.

It is also the first to suggest that health problems linked to high rates of birth trauma in left-handers may be potentially life-threatening. Both the authors and other researchers were surprised at the large difference shown in the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Searleman of St. Lawrence University in Canton, N. But Diane F.

Mean age at death for the 1, right-handers was In order to test the relation between handedness and life span in a general population, we obtained death certificates from two counties in southern California. Two thousand questionnaires concerning the handedness of the deceased family member were sent to the listed next of kin, which resulted in usable cases male subjects and female subjects.

Subjects were designated as right-handers if they wrote, drew, and threw a ball with the right hand. All other subjects left-handers and mixed-handers were assigned to a non-right-handed group. When we turn to the effect of handedness on life span, the results are striking in their magnitude.

No, as with all the best research, there is only one safe conclusion to be drawn from these findings. We need more research. Lefties die young Leader. Rightists may have a hand in sinister cull.