old white men found responsible...
Posted on 05/01/2007 6:52:34 PM PDT by blam
Left-handed women face higher risk of death
Last Updated: 1:54am BST 02/05/2007
Left-handed women are at a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and circulatory diseases, a study has suggested.
Numerous reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, according to a report by Dutch researchers in the journal Epidemiology.
Dr Made K Ramadhani and colleagues from University Medical Centre Utrecht write: "Left-handers are reported to be under-represented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated."
It is estimated that about one in 10 people is left-handed.
The researchers followed 12,178 middle-aged Dutch women for nearly 13 years, 252 of whom died.
When left-handed women were statistically compared with other women, the left-handers had 40 per cent more chance 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 twice as much chance of dying from breast cancer, nearly five times the risk of dying from colo-rectal cancer, and more than three times the risk of dying from a cerebrovascular condition.
The study could not pinpoint the mechanism for the increased risk, but suggested genetics and environmental factors may be involved.
Much of the research into handedness and mortality has been fuelled by the hypothesis that left-handedness results from damage suffered in the womb, which also leads to the early death.
Dr Olga Basso, the author of a commentary on the study who works with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in North Carolina, and who is left-handed, is sceptical of research relating disease and death with handedness.
"I am not alone in thinking that the literature on handedness suffers from a number of ills," regardless of the reputed illnesses seen in those who are left-handed, she writes.
"Having successfully dodged a number of disorders," adds Dr Basso, "I doubt that my left hand is prematurely pulling me toward my grave."
women and minorities hardest hit
That you run across people that smoked like chimneys and live into their 90s doesn't mean smoking doesn't kill a lot of people. Individual anecdotes don't beat masses of evidence.
I'm left handed, but male.
Some say that left handed women are in their right mind. 8^).
My mom was also left handed, and passed away at the age of 88. I am left handed. Wait, I’ve got a pain in my chest...BRB
My oldest sister is left handed. As am I. She’s like 60 something.
One of my daughters is left-handed. She is a mirror-image twin, so she has the same genetic make-up as her sister.
They are only 10, and alive and kicking. However, she did almost die as a baby. She was on a ventilator for a month, and her sister was on one for a week. She is also about 10 pounds heavier than her sister. I almost wonder if that has something to do with it. Maybe left-handed women are not as active (something to do with how active they are).
No no no baseball teams can always use a left handed relief pitcher.
But perhaps it's true that left-handed women have shorter life expectancies. We should ask the actuaries.
I’m curious whether left-handed men are at greater risk.
Did this study omit men because they are not at risk, or more likely because in this feminist age, nobody cares?
That would now be women especially left handed women and minorities hardest hit.
old white men found responsible...
Atleast until 1960s left handers were forced to learn to write with their right hand. I think a lot of older true left handers are being counted as right handed, hince their decreased representation in the older population. I am left handed and remember as a child my grandmother arguing with my mother not to “let me” keep using my left hand.
OK..I’m left-handed as is my younger daughter, her boyfriend, my husband, my son-in-law. Only my older daughter is right handed......this is BS.....maybe we all ought to be studied!!
Excellent theory - I have a (much, much) older brother in his 40s that I've heard may have been forcibly converted in school. Also has a bad stutter.
Oh..oh, another "right" wing conspiracy?
Do left-handed women really have a risk of death greater than 100%?
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