Cognitive epidemiology as a separate line of inquiry emerged in the early 2000s. Its purpose is to study how and why individual differences in intelligence (especially when measured in childhood or young adulthood) associate with later differences in health, illness, and death. An article published in the April 2020 issue of the journal Nature Human Behaviours examines how an understanding of the association between intelligence and health/mortality has been refined with the advent of new, population-scale data and genetic tools. The manuscript looks at the associations between intelligence and, in turn, all-cause mortality, specific causes of mortality, physical illnesses, and health-related biomarkers. Possible causes of the observed associations (education, health behaviors and literacy, and genetics), are not mutually exclusive.
Although the causes underlying the associations between intelligence and health/mortality remain an open question, research over the past decade has provided results and fingerposts for further progress. As a way of obtaining a clearer understanding, the authors discuss how intelligence relates to specific causes of death, diseases/diagnoses, and biomarkers of health through the adult life course. They examine the extent to which mortality and health associations with intelligence might be attributable to differences in education, other indicators of socioeconomic status, health literacy, and adult environments and behaviors. Finally, they discuss whether genetic data provide new tools to understand parts of the intelligence–health associations. Social epidemiologists, differential psychologists and behavioral and statistical geneticists, among others, contribute to cognitive epidemiology. Any advances that occur will do so by building on a common cross-disciplinary knowledge base.
More May 2021 TRENDS Articles
MINISCULE CREATURES OF HUGE IMPORTANCE
is a discussion on how declines in the population of insects on earth can have major negative impacts on the health status of humans. Read More
A MAJOR FOCUS ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING
describes early attempts to appropriate funds for the upcoming next fiscal year, the return of “earmarks,” and key hearings on Capitol Hill regarding COVID-19. Read More
HEALTH REFORM DEVELOPMENTS
refers to how overuse of tests and procedures in the Medicare program contributes to wasteful spending; Biden administration efforts to reverse policies of the previous administration; and expansion of some provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Read More
DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
is about the financial impact of lockdowns on colleges and universities; the effect on students of remote instead of in-class learning; and proposed legislation on student loan tax elimination. Read More
QUICK STAT (SHORT, TIMELY, AND TOPICAL)
Emergency Departments For Bicycle-Related TBIs: United States, 2009-2018
Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program Enrollment: 2020
Ventilating The Rectum To Support Respiration Opening A Window Into Alzheimer's Disease Read More
OBTAINABLE RESOURCES
Improving The Utility Of Evidence Synthesis In The Face Of Insufficient Evidence
Implementing High-Quality Primary Care
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IMPACT OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND WIDOWHOOD ON HEALTH STATUS
indicates reasons why the so-called “golden years” associated with old age can be particularly disruptive in the lives of women in the U.S. Read More
COGNITIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY, INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND DEATH
pertains to how an understanding of the association between intelligence and health/mortality has been refined with the advent of new, population-scale data and genetic tools. Read More Read More