MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012 Jul;66(7):e13. doi: 10.1136/jech.2010.109835. Epub 2011 May 10.
People with higher intelligence in early life have a lower subsequent risk of coronary heart disease events, but the explanation for these observations is unclear.
To examine whether intelligence in early adulthood is associated with risk of subclinical atherosclerosis in mid-life, as indicated by the ankle brachial index (ABI), and investigate its potential mediating role in the association between intelligence and mortality.
Participants were 4286 male US veterans whose intelligence was measured on enlistment into military service at a mean age of 20.4 years and whose ABI was measured by Doppler as part of a detailed medical examination at a mean age of 38.3 years.
Higher intelligence in early adulthood was associated with a higher ABI in mid-life. For an SD increase in intelligence, after adjusting for age, ABI (× 10) rose by 0.05 (0.02, 0.07), and the OR (95% CI) for having a low ABI (≤ 0.90) was 0.84 (0.72 to 0.98). Further adjustment for smoking, serum cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose concentrations, blood pressure, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, body mass index, alcohol intake, education and measures of socioeconomic position had little or no attenuating effect on these associations. Lower ABI was associated with increased mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease but it did not account for the associations between IQ and mortality from these causes.
Men of lower intelligence may be more susceptible to atherogenesis, though this mechanism does not appear to explain their increased risk of earlier death.
早年智力较高的人随后患冠心病事件的风险较低，但这些观察结果的解释尚不清楚。
检查成年早期的智力是否与中年亚临床动脉粥样硬化的风险相关，这可以通过踝臂指数（ABI）来衡量，并研究其在智力与死亡率之间的关联中的潜在中介作用。
参与者是 4286 名美国男性退伍军人，他们的智力在入伍时通过兵役测量，平均年龄为 20.4 岁，他们的 ABI 通过多普勒在平均年龄为 38.3 岁的详细体检中进行测量。
成年早期较高的智力与中年较高的 ABI 相关。在调整年龄后，智力每增加一个标准差，ABI（×10）增加 0.05（0.02，0.07），并且 ABI 较低（≤0.90）的 OR（95%CI）为 0.84（0.72 至 0.98）。进一步调整吸烟、血清胆固醇、甘油三酯和血糖浓度、血压、红细胞沉降率、体重指数、饮酒量、教育程度和社会经济地位衡量标准对这些关联几乎没有或没有减弱作用。较低的 ABI 与全因和心血管疾病死亡率增加有关，但它并不能解释 IQ 与这些原因导致的死亡率之间的关联。
智力较低的男性可能更容易发生动脉粥样硬化，但这种机制似乎并不能解释他们早逝风险增加的原因。
