BMJ  2006;332 (11 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7541.0-b

Does IQ explain socioeconomic inequalities in health?

IQ may contribute to, but doesn't completely explain, socioeconomic gradients in health. In a prospective cohort study, Batty and colleagues (p 580) assessed IQ, socioeconomic status, mortality, and morbidity of 1347 middle aged people from Scotland and found that indices of socioeconomic position were significantly associated with all the health outcomes they examined. After adjustment for IQ, all associations were weaker and one fifth were reduced to statistical non-significance. In half of the associations, however, the risk of ill health in the socioeconomically disadvantaged group was still twice that of the advantaged group.

Credit: PETER MARLOW/MAGNUM PHOTOS

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Does IQ explain socioeconomic inequalities in health? Evidence from a population based cohort study in the west of Scotland

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