The New England Journal of Medicine released the results of a yearlong study Thursday which compared the death rate of left-and right-handed people to see why fewer left-handed people are among the elderly population.
Researchers found that the average age at death for right-handed people was 75 and 66 for left-handed people. Right-handed females tend to live six years longer than left handed females and right-handed males live 11 years longer than left-handed males. The study was conducted by Diana Halpern, a psychology professor at California State University at San Bernadino, and Stanley Coren, a researcher at the University of British Columbia. They studied the death certificates of 987 people in two southern California countries. Relatives of the deceased were queried by mail about the subject’s dominant hands. Halpern, who is right-handed, said her study should be interpreted cautiously. Mothers should not worry about their left-handed children or try to change which hand they use. “It should not, of course, be used to predict the life span of any one individual,” said Halpern. “There are many, many old left-handed people.” Cathy Carmichael, a right-handed Jacksonville nursery attendant, said her mother used to worry about her brother being left-handed in a world made for right-handers. She can remember her mother mentioning several things that her brother might struggle with throughout his life. “My mother would rant about how my brother wouldn’t be able to use scissors or a chainsaw safely,” said Carmichael. “They were over the top examples, but I can see where she was coming from.” Car accidents were another factor involved in the study. Left-handed people were four times more likely to die from injuries while driving than right-handers and six times more likely to die from accidents. Halpern said this could be the result of engineering being geared to the right hand and foot. “There are many more car and other accidents among left-handers because of their environment” said Halpern. Dylan James, a left-handed DJ in Jacksonville, said that he struggles with his equipment sometimes because it is not catered to his dominant hand. He had to learn how to move his equipment around to best fit his needs. “When I first started to DJ, everything felt out of whack,” said James. “Now my turn tables are setup in a way where my left hand can have more control.” Christine Mguyen, a right-handed sophomore at the University of North Florida, said she has trouble accepting the results of this study. She does not understand how a proper study could be conducted if only 10 percent of the American population is left-handed. “Wouldn’t there be more right-handed people alive regardless” said Mguyen. “I would be curious to see how they leveled out all the factors.” Halpern said that researchers thought they might have been analyzing old people who were forced to change from left handers to right handers, but that was not the case. “The truth was that there simply weren’t many left-handers left alive, compared to right- handers” said Halpern.
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February 2017
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