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So I conclude that those of us Lefties who make it into our seventies will become as rare as the dodo? Ohhh WAIT!!! Dodos are EXTINCT!! <gulp> Barb Mallut (a total Lefty) [log in to unmask] ---------- From: Parkinson's Information Exchange on behalf of Judith Richards Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 1998 2:17 PM To: Multiple recipients of list PARKINSN Subject: NON PD: Few Elderly Left-handed -- But Why? Only the good die young ... perhaps? Sorry, but being one of several le= fties on the list, I couldn't resist. :) Not the most reassuring thing I've read recently though, especially sin= ce I'm just getting over the worst cold I think I have ever had...and it's= like a double whammy, because the PD meds don't seem to work very well when = my system is waging war with something else... Tuesday January 27 Few Elderly Left-handed -- But Why? NEW YORK (Reuters) -- There are fewer left-handers among older people t= han among younger, although not primarily because of the forced change in handedness commonly practiced in the past, according to a new study. UK researchers call for more research to determine if left-handed peopl= e are more likely to die younger -- either due to disease or to accidents in = a predominantly right-handed world. Neurologists at Keele University in the United Kingdom surveyed nearly = 8,000 people between the ages of 15 and 70, all residents of a small Lancashi= re town. The participants completed questionnaires asking which hand they = most often used to perform tasks such as writing, drawing, cutting with scissors, teeth brushing, and striking a match. To measure the impact of possible forced change in handedness, the ques= tions on writing and drawing -- activities most closely associated with educa= tion -- were omitted from a second set of questionnaires. A report on the su= rvey findings appears in the current issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Communi= ty Health. Results from responses to the initial questionnaire indicated a decline= in left-handedness from 11.2% at age 15 to 4.4% at age 70. "With writing a= nd drawing excluded," the researchers wrote, "the prevalence of left-hande= dness fell from 10.5% at age 15 to 4.95% at age 70." Comparing these two measures of decline in the left-handed ranks, the researchers determined that "if forced dextrality in older generations = is restricted to writing and drawing, then less than 20% of the fall in th= e prevalence of left-handedness is accounted for by this mechanism." Other theories regarding the scarcity of lefties among the elderly sugg= est that gradual pressure from a predominantly right-handed civilization ma= y eventually induce a change in handedness, or that lefties are somehow m= ore likely to die prematurely. However, "(e)xplanations... that rely on... liberalising attitudes to sinistrals are not supported by this study," the researche= rs concluded. "Only careful prospective... studies can satisfactorily answ= er the important question of whether left-handers suffer from premature mortality." According to the journal, the prevalence of left-handedness among elder= ly people has been steadily declining in the UK since 1913. SOURCE: Journa= l of Epidemiology and Community Health (1998;52:41-44) Copyright =A9 1997 Reuters Limited. Judith Richards [log in to unmask]