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. 2016 Nov;71(6):968-977.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbv035. Epub 2015 May 26.

Early-Life Intelligence Predicts Midlife Biological Age

Jonathan D Schaefer  1 , Avshalom Caspi  2   3 , Daniel W Belsky  4   5 , Honalee Harrington  2 , Renate Houts  2 , Salomon Israel  2   6 , Morgan E Levine  7 , Karen Sugden  2   8 , Benjamin Williams  2   8 , Richie Poulton  9 , Terrie E Moffitt  3   10
Affiliations

Early-Life Intelligence Predicts Midlife Biological Age

Jonathan D Schaefer et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2016 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: Early-life intelligence has been shown to predict multiple causes of death in populations around the world. This finding suggests that intelligence might influence mortality through its effects on a general process of physiological deterioration (i.e., individual variation in "biological age"). We examined whether intelligence could predict measures of aging at midlife before the onset of most age-related disease.

Methods: We tested whether intelligence assessed in early childhood, middle childhood, and midlife predicted midlife biological age in members of the Dunedin Study, a population-representative birth cohort.

Results: Lower intelligence predicted more advanced biological age at midlife as captured by perceived facial age, a 10-biomarker algorithm based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and Framingham heart age (r = 0.1-0.2). Correlations between intelligence and telomere length were less consistent. The associations between intelligence and biological age were not explained by differences in childhood health or parental socioeconomic status, and intelligence remained a significant predictor of biological age even when intelligence was assessed before Study members began their formal schooling.

Discussion: These results suggest that accelerated aging may serve as one of the factors linking low early-life intelligence to increased rates of morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: Aging—Biomarkers; Cognition; IQ; Intelligence.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The association between early childhood intelligence and biological age as measured by the NHANES biomarker algorithm. The histogram depicts the normal distribution of Study members’ early childhood intelligence scores, whereas the scatter plot and regression line show the association between early childhood intelligence and age 38 biological age as measured by the NHANES biomarker algorithm. The dots and standard error bars show average biological age for Study members with early childhood intelligence scores falling <−1.5, −1.5 to −1, −1 to −0.5, −0.5 to 0, 0–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–1.5, and > 1.5 SDs relative to the mean. NHANES = National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (III).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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