New Delhi: A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease - damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain, says Daily Mail.
It is estimated that about one in 10 people are lefties. Reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, Dutch researchers note in their report in the journal Epidemiology.
"Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated," Dr Made K Ramadhani is quoted by the news daily. Among 12,178 middle-aged Dutch women the researchers followed for nearly 13 years, 252 died.
When left-handed women were compared with the other women, and the data were adjusted for a number of potentially confounding factors, lefties had a 40 per cent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system.
Left-handed women also run increased risk of dying from breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cerebrovascular mortality.
The underlying mechanisms remain elusive, although genetics and environmental factors may be involved, Ramadhani and colleagues suggest. Much of the research into handedness and mortality has been fueled by the hypothesis that left-handedness is the result of an insult suffered during prenatal life, which ultimately leads to the early death.
Noted left-handed author D Olga Basso was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying, "I am not alone in thinking that the literature on handedness suffers from a number of ills," regardless of the putative illnesses seen in those who are left-handed, she notes.
"Having successfully dodged a number of disorders," adds Basso, "I doubt that my left hand is prematurely pulling me toward my grave."
With excerpts from The Daily Mail
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