After attending this session, participants are familiar with the adverse
effects of early life intelligence on midlife mortality. The association
between intelligence in early adulthood and midlife mortality was examined
taking parental lifespan, socioeconomic position across the life
course, birthweight, and adult Body Mass Index (BMI) into account. A
total of 13,536 Danish men born in 1953 and 1959-61 with data from
birth certificates and conscription were followed until 2009. Information
on vital status was obtained from the Civil Registration System.
The hazard ratios for men in the lowest intelligence tertile was 2.24
(95% confidence interval (CI): 1.89-2.65) for natural deaths and 2.67
(95% CI: 2.03-3.53) for unnatural deaths. Adjusting for all covariates
attenuated the estimates to 1.79 (95% CI: 1.45-2.20) and 2.28 (95%
CI: 1.61-3.22), respectively. In men, intelligence in early adulthood predicted
midlife mortality from natural and unnatural causes. The associations
remained after adjustment for potential confounders.