Re: NON PD: Few Elderly Left-handed -- But Why?

[Barbara Mallut <Barb_MSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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)
barb_msn@xxxxxxx

----------
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
judithr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx