Commentary: Influence of early life intelligence test performance on later health: do lower scoring children become less healthy adults?

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Abstract
Since the introduction of intelligence testing in the early 20th century, this characteristic (also known as cognition, cognitive function, and mental ability) has consistently been shown to be related to indices of socioeconomic position, such as education and occupational social class, with the least favourable levels seen in individuals from the poorer backgrounds.1 Childhood cognitive function has also been suggested as one of the mechanisms mediating the association between socioeconomic position in early life and adult mortality. Cognition measured in early life has been related to final qualifications1 and adult behaviour, such as smoking,2 supporting the notion that this psychometric characteristic may be associated with health. However, given the ubiquitous social patterning of cognition scores, a potential alternative explanation for this effect is confounding by social circumstances. Further indirect support for this view point can be found in the patterns of association between childhood cognition and adult cause-specific mortality which tend to reflect those reported for paternal social class, a widely used indicator of pre-adult socioeconomic position.

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