Sinister way to die

[starrkers]

full story

Left-handed women 'may not live as long'
May 1, 2007 - 9:19AM

A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease - damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain.

While it could be a chance finding and the evidence is far from conclusive, numerous reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, Dutch researchers note in their report in the journal Epidemiology.

"Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated," write Dr Made Ramadhani and colleagues from University Medical Centre Utrecht. It is estimated that about one in 10 people are lefties.

Among 12,178 middle-aged Dutch women the researchers followed for nearly 13 years, 252 died.

When left-handed women were compared with the other women, and the data were adjusted for a number of potentially confounding factors, lefties had a 40 per cent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 per cent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system.

Left-handed women also had a two-fold increased risk of dying from breast cancer, close to a five-fold increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer, and more than a three-fold higher risk of cerebrovascular mortality.

 

[TE999]

Does this mean that all those unfortunate lefties who had their knuckles rapped in grammar school and forced to write with their right hand were unwittingly being saved from a premature demise?

You have to be cruel to be kind, I suppose.

 

[cumallday]

Should we cut the stats in half if the women are ambidextrous?

 

[fcdc]

Also, what if you are forcibly ambidextrous? Due to a disability, I have to rely on my left hand for many things, but my right hand is dominant.

Maybe it's something in the water in the Netherlands. I have a friend in Maastricht. I'll have to ask her if she's left-handed (she was only here for a few weeks, and I didn't notice.)

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Ok, so I'm a leftie but only an honorary lesbian, so how does this affect me? Should I not bother with retirement planning? (Not that I'll ever get to retire, but at least I can think of it. )