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Why do those with higher IQs live longer? A new study points to answers

Across a sweeping range of causes of death, from dementia to heart disease, those with higher IQs are less likely to die early.
Source: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

Being smarter as a child means you are more likely to live longer than people of lower intelligence, according to the most comprehensive study yet to look at the connection between IQ and longevity and that analyzed a sweeping range of causes of death, from injuries to dementia to heart disease.

Among the thousands of people studied, those in the top 10 percent of childhood intelligence were two-thirds less likely to have died from respiratory disease by age 79 than people in the bottom 10

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