Research suggests unintelligent people could be at a higher risk of stroke

ISRAEL (WKRC) – New research claims that younger people with lower levels of intelligence are more likely to have a stroke than others.

A study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health found that teenagers with less mental fortitude could be up to three times more likely to have a stroke at a young age. This research is piggy-backing on previous studies that attempted to prove the same correlation between juvenile mental ability and stroke chance.

The researchers combed through the data of 1.7 million young people over 25 years, specifically the intake exams for 16 to 20-year-old Israelis to enter the military, which is required for many Israeli citizens. One factor in the military intake exam is a mental aptitude test, which the researchers honed in on. The mental part of the test examined instruction following, abstraction, categorization, mathematics, concentration, concepting, abstract reasoning, and problem-solving.

Out of the 1.7 million participants, 12% had a high level of mental ability, 70% had a medium level, and 18% had a low level. The researchers matched this information up with the Israeli national stroke database, and found their connection. The researchers determined that “unintelligent people,” or those who scored low on the mental ability test, were over 2.5 times more likely to have a stroke before the age of 50 than those who scored high in the mental exam.

“We demonstrated that adolescents with medium and low cognitive function had twofold and threefold increased risks, respectively, for early-onset ischemic stroke, after controlling for various confounders,” the researchers wrote.

The researchers are unsure why there seems to be a correlation between intelligence and stroke chance, and acknowledge that their study failed to take into account many lifestyle choices that could have increased risk.

The authors emphasize that at the very least, the possible correlation between intelligence and stroke risk needs to be investigated further.