Gracias por un bonito fin de semana:

Pilar Ramirez

Denise Reynoard

Jorge Blanco

David Leal

Marcela Mendoza

Showing some respect for your Brand New Colony

Había olvidado esta canción y lo mucho que me gusta

Perdón, lo que te hice ayer.
No es fácil despertar si ya no estás,
buscar tu beso en otros labios.
Soñé que te volvía a tener,
que puedo respirar, porque me das
lo que yo busco en otros brazos.
Mírame y así de frente déjame saber
que ya no hay nada y no vas a volver
que si me tocas ya no te deshaces.

Y me ves jugando a no extrañarnos,
evadiéndote para caminar.
Y te ves de nuevo así llorando
pero hay que pensar
que no hay vuelta atrás

Grité y te intente detener…
Tu forma de besar hace dudar…

Tu sabes que esto no es pasado.
Perdón y ahora escúchame:
no dejas de soñar ni de desear
que en esta noche sean mis manos.

Pensé que te vería pero también pensé que armarías tus tácticas para evadirme.

What a clever human!!

Realmente no,

fue bastante predecible.

Me agradan tus maestrías, son tan tú.

¿Coflictivo?

Jaja esa fue la primera palabra que se me vino después de poner la oración anterior

Hay un niño en el trabajo (hijo de algún trabajador) que me está diciendo

"Tío, tío...regálame un juguete!! Mira tío !!"

y ando jugando con él jajaja, me distrae un poco de mis actividades pero me agrada atenderlo :)

Sí, me tocó trabajar en sábado.

Entre trámites de maestría y Jefatura de calidad y regulaciones

Hey, baby. I’m your boss!!

Mistery guitar man

En algo tengo que aprovechar mis

Tsunamis sentimentales.

Nuevo año

Nuevos panoramas

Nueva mortalidad

Dicho en lenguaje coloquial...

No tienes ni puta idea de cuánto te extraño :3

Yo también te odio de una forma tan tierna.....

de una forma tan violenta que espero verte para estrujarte y quererte y amarte hasta el final de mi vida :3
:3
:3
:3
:3
:3

Hay 3 cosas hermosas en este post:

Lola Beltrán

Tomás Méndez Sosa

Y este amor...

Eres la reja de mi penar, pero te amo, no puedo pelear contra eso porque así de sencillo y verdadero es. A pesar de las dificultades y lo dificil.

Jamme, jamme 'ncoppa, jamme jà, funiculì, funiculà!

Explotando de felicidad escuchándo esta canción popular :B
Soy aire ligero y sencillo y me amo.

No vuelvo, pero tú

Vuelve, mi cielo

caído.

Voices (in my head)

MOUTH: . . . . out . . . into this world . . . this world . . . tiny little thing . . . before its time . . . in a godfor– . . . what? . . girl? . . yes . . . tiny little girl . . . into this . . . out into this . . . before her time . . . godforsaken hole called . . . called . . . no matter . . . parents unknown . . . unheard of . . . he having vanished . . . thin air . . . no sooner buttoned up his breeches . . . she similarly . . . eight months later . . . almost to the tick . . . so no love . . . spared that . . . no love such as normally vented on the . . . speechless infant . . . in the home . . . no . . . nor indeed for that matter any of any kind . . . no love of any kind . . . at any subsequent stage . . . so typical affair . . . nothing of any note till coming up to sixty when– . . . what? . . seventy?. . good God! . . coming up to seventy . . . wandering in a field . . . looking aimlessly for cowslips . . . to make a ball . . . a few steps then stop . . . stare into space . . . then on . . . a few more . . . stop and stare again . . . so on . . . drifting around . . . when suddenly . . . gradually . . . all went out . . . all that early April morning light . . . and she found herself in the--– . . . what? . . who? . . no! . . she! . . [Pause and movement 1.] . . . found herself in the dark . . . and if not exactly . . . insentient . . . insentient . . . for she could still hear the buzzing . . . so-called . . . in the ears . . . and a ray of light came and went . . . came and went . . . such as the moon might cast . . . drifting . . . in and out of cloud . . . but so dulled . . . feeling . . . feeling so dulled . . . she did not know . . . what position she was in . . . imagine! . . what position she was in! . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . but the brain– . . . what?. . kneeling? . . yes . . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . or kneeling . . . but the brain– . . . what? . . lying? . . yes . . whether standing . . . or sitting . . . or kneeling . . . or lying . . . but the brain still . . . still . . . in a way . . . for her first thought was . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . brought up as she had been to believe . . . with the other waifs . . . in a merciful . . . [Brief laugh.] . . . God . . . [Good laugh.] . . . first thought was . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . she was being punished . . . for her sins . . . a number of which then . . . further proof if proof were needed . . . flashed through her mind . . . one after another . . . then dismissed as foolish . . . oh long after . . . this thought dismissed . . . as she suddenly realized . . . gradually realized . . . she was not suffering . . . imagine! . . not suffering! . . indeed could not remember . . . off-hand . . . when she had suffered less . . . unless of course she was . . . meant to be suffering . . . ha! . . thought to be suffering . . . just as the odd time . . . in her life . . . when clearly intended to be having pleasure . . . she was in fact . . . having none . . . not the slightest . . . in which case of course . . . that notion of punishment . . . for some sin or other . . . or for the lot . . . or no particular reason . . . for its own sake . . . thing she understood perfectly . . . that notion of punishment . . . which had first occurred to her . . . brought up as she had been to believe . . . with the other waifs . . . in a merciful . . . [Brief laugh.] . . . God . . . [Good laugh.] . . . first occurred to her . . . then dismissed . . . as foolish . . . was perhaps not so foolish . . . after all . . . so on . . . all that . . . vain reasonings . . . till another thought . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . . . very foolish really but– . . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all the time buzzing . . . so-called . . . in the ears . . . though of course actually . . . not in the ears at all . . . in the skull . . . dull roar in the skull . . . and all the time this ray or beam . . . like moonbeam . . . but probably not . . . certainly not . . . always the same spot . . . now bright . . . now shrouded . . . but always the same spot . . . as no moon could . . . no . . . no moon . . . just all part of the same wish to . . . torment . . . though actually in point of fact . . . not in the least . . . not a twinge . . . so far . . . ha! . . so far . . . this other thought then . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . very foolish really but so like her . . . in a way . . . that she might do well to . . . groan . . . on and off . . . writhe she could not . . . as if in actual agony . . . but could not . . . could not bring herself . . . some flaw in her make-up . . . incapable of deceit . . . or the machine . . . more likely the machine . . . so disconnected . . . never got the message . . . or powerless to respond . . . like numbed . . . couldn't make the sound . . . not any sound . . . no sound of any kind . . . no screaming for help for example . . . should she feel so inclined . . . scream . . . [Screams.] . . . then listen . . . [Silence.] . . . scream again . . . [Screams again.] . . . then listen again . . . [Silence.] . . . no . . . spared that . . . all silent as the grave . . . no part–. . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all silent but for the buzzing . . . so-called . . . no part of her moving . . . that she could feel . . . just the eyelids . . . presumably . . . on and off . . . shut out the light . . . reflex they call it . . . no feeling of any kind . . . but the lids . . . even best of times . . . who feels them? . . opening . . . shutting . . . all that moisture . . .but the brain still . . . still sufficiently . . . oh very much so! . . at this stage . . . in control . . . under control . . . to question even this . . . for on that April morning . . . so it reasoned . . . that April morning . . . she fixing with her eye . . . a distant bell . . . as she hastened towards it . . . fixing it with her eye . . . lest it elude her . . . had not all gone out . . . all that light . . . of itself . . . without any . . . any. . . on her part . . . so on . . . so on it reasoned . . . vain questionings . . . and all dead still . . . sweet silent as the grave . . . when suddenly . . . gradually . . . she realiz–. . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all dead still but for the buzzing . . . when suddenly she realized . . . words were– . . . what? . . who?. . no! . . she! . . [Pause and movement 2.] . . . realized . . . words were coming . . . imagine! . . . words were coming . . . a voice she did not recognize at first so long since it had sounded . . . then finally had to admit . . . could be none other . . . than her own . . . certain vowel sounds . . . she had never heard . . . elsewhere . . . so that people would stare . . . the rare occasions . . . once or twice a year . . . always winter some strange reason . . . stare at her uncom-prehending . . . and now this stream . . . steady stream . . . she who had never . . . on the contrary . . . practically speechless . . . all her days . . . how she survived! . . even shopping . . . out shopping . . . busy shopping centre . . . supermart . . . just hand in the list . . . with the bag . . . old black shopping bag . . . then stand there waiting . . . any length of time . . . middle of the throng . . . motionless . . . staring into space . . . mouth half open as usual . . . till it
was back in her hand . . . the bag back in her hand . . . then pay and go . . . not as much as good-bye . . . how she survived! . . and now this stream . . . not catching the half of it . . . not the quarter . . . no idea . . . what she was saying . . . imagine! . . no idea what she was saying! . . till she began trying to . . . delude herself . . . it was not hers at all . . . not her voice at all . . . and no doubt would have . . . vital she should . . . was on the point . . . after long efforts . . . when suddenly she felt . . . gradually she felt . . . her lips moving . . . imagine! . . her lips moving! . . as of course till then she had not . . . and not alone the lips . . . the cheeks . . . the jaws . . . the whole face . . . all those– . . what?. . the tongue? . . yes . . . the tongue in the mouth . . . all those contortions without which . . . no speech possible . . . and yet in the ordinary way . . . not felt at all . . . so intent one is . . . on what one is saying . . . the whole being . . . hanging on its words . . . so that not only she had . . . had she . . . not only had she . . . to give up . . . admit hers alone . . . her voice alone . . . but this other awful thought . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . even more awful if possible . . . that feeling was coming back . . . imagine! . . feeling coming back! . . starting at the top . . . then working down . . . the whole machine . . . but no . . . spared that . . . the mouth alone . . . so far . . . ha! . . so far . . . then thinking . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . it can't go on . . . all this . . . all that . . . steady stream . . . straining to hear . . . make some-thing of it . . . and her own thoughts . . . make something of them . . . all– . . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all the time the buzzing . . . so-called . . . all that together . . . imagine! . . whole body like gone . . . just the mouth . . . lips . . . cheeks . . . jaws . . . never– . . . what?. . tongue? . . yes . . . lips. . . cheeks . . . jaws . . . tongue . . . never still a second . . . mouth on fire . . . stream of words . . . in her ear . . . practically in her ear . . . not catching the half . . . not the quarter . . . no idea what she's saying . . . imagine! . . no idea what she's saying! . . and can't stop . . . no stopping it . . . she who but a moment before . . . but a moment! . . could not make a sound . . . no sound of any kind . . . now can't stop . . . imagine! . . can't stop the stream . . . and the whole brain begging . . . something begging in the brain . . . begging the mouth to stop . . . pause a moment . . . if only for a moment . . . and no response . . . as if it hadn’t heard . . . or couldn’t . . . couldn't pause a second . . . like maddened . . . all that together . . . straining to hear . . . piece it together . . . and the brain . . . raving away on its own . . . trying to make sense of it . . . or make it stop . . . or in the past . . . dragging up the past . . . flashes from all over . . . walks mostly . . . walking all her days . . . day after day . . . a few steps then stop . . . stare into space . . . then on . . . a few more . . . stop and stare again . . . so on . . . drifting around . . . day after day . . . or that time she cried . . . the one time she could remember . . . since she was a baby . . . must have cried as a baby . . . perhaps not . . . not essential to life . . . just the birth cry to get her going . . . breathing . . . then no more till this . . . old hag already . . . sitting staring at her hand . . . where was it? . . Croker's Acres . . . one evening on the way home . . . home! . . a little mound in Croker's Acres . . . dusk . . . sitting staring at her hand . . . there in her lap . . . palm upward . . . suddenly saw it wet . . . the palm . . . tears presumably . . . hers presumably . . . no one else for miles . . . no sound . . . just the tears . . . sat and watched them dry . . . all over in a second . . . or grabbing at straw . . . the brain . . . flickering away on its own . . . quick grab and on. . . nothing there . . . on to the next . . . bad as the voice . . . worse . . . as little sense . . . all that together . . . can't– . . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all the time the buzzing . . . dull roar like falls . . . and the beam . . . flickering on and off . . . starting to move around . . . like moonbeam but not . . . all part of the same . . . keep an eye on that too . . . corner of the eye . . . all that together . . . can't go on . . . God is love . . . she'll be purged . . . back in the field . . . morning sun . . . April . . . sink face down in the grass . . . nothing but the larks . . . so on . . . grabbing at the straw . . . straining to hear . . . the odd word . . . make some sense of it . . . whole body like gone . . . just the mouth . . . like maddened . . . and can't stop . . . no stopping it . . . something she– . . . something she had to– . . . what? . . who? . . no! . . she! . . [Pause and movement 3.] . . . something she had to–. . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all the time the buzzing . . . dull roar . . . in the skull . . . and the beam . . . ferreting around . . . painless . . . so far . . . ha! . . so far . . . then thinking . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . perhaps something she had to . . . had to . . . tell . . . could that be it? . . something she had to . . . tell . . . tiny little thing . . . before its time . . . godforsaken hole . . . no love . . . spared that . . . speechless all her days . . . practically speechless . . . how she survived! . . that time in court . . . what had she to say for herself . . . guilty or not guilty . . . stand up woman . . . speak up woman . . . stood there staring into space . . . mouth half open as usual . . . waiting to be led away . . . glad of the hand on her arm . . . now this . . . some-thing she had to tell . . . could that be it? . . something that would tell . . . how it was . . . how she– . . . what? . . had been? . . yes . . . something that would tell how it had been . . . how she had lived . . . lived on and on . . . guilty or not . . . on and on . . . to be sixty . . . something she– . . . what? . . seventy? . . good God! . . on and on to be seventy . . . something she didn't know herself . . . wouldn't know if she heard . . . then forgiven . . . God is love . . . tender mercies . . . new every morning . . . back in the field . . . April morning . . . face in the grass . . . nothing but the larks . . . pick it up there . . . get on with it from there . . . another few– . . . what? . . not that? . . nothing to do with that? . . nothing she could tell? . . all right . . . nothing she could tell . . . try something else . . . think of something else . . . oh long after . . . sudden flash . . . not that either . . . all right . . . something else again . . . so on . . . hit on it in the end . . . think everything keep on long enough . . . then forgiven . . . back in the– . . . what? . . not that either? . . nothing to do with that either? . . nothing she could think? . . all right . . . nothing she could tell . . . nothing she could think . . . nothing she– . . what? . . who? . . no! . . she! . . [Pause and movement 4.] . . . tiny little thing . . . out before its time . . . godforsaken hole . . . no love . . . spared that . . . speechless all her days . . . practically speechless . . . even to herself . . . never out loud . . . but not completely . . . sometimes sudden urge . . . once or twice a year . . . always winter some strange reason . . . the long evenings . . . hours of darkness . . . sudden urge to . . . tell . . . then rush out stop the first she saw . . . nearest lavatory . . . start pouring it out . . . steady stream . . . mad stuff . . . half the vowels wrong . . . no one could follow . . . till she saw the stare she was getting . . . then die of shame . . . crawl back in . . . once or twice a year . . . always winter some strange reason . . . long hours of darkness . . . now this . . . this . . . quicker and quicker . . . the words . . . the brain . . . flickering away like mad . . . quick grab and on . . . nothing there . . . on somewhere else . . . try somewhere else . . . all the time something begging . . . something in her begging . . . begging it all to stop . . . unanswered . . . prayer unanswered . . . or unheard . . . too faint . . . so on . . . keep on . . . trying . . . not knowing what . . . what she was trying . . . what to try . . . whole body like gone . . . just the mouth . . . like maddened . . . so on . . . keep– . . . what? . . the buzzing? . . yes . . . all the time the buzzing . . . dull roar like falls . . . in the skull . . . and the beam . . . poking around . . . painless . . . so far . . . ha! . . so far . . . all that . . . keep on . . . not knowing what . . . what she was– . . . what? . . who? . . no! . . she! . . SHE! . . [Pause.] . . . what she was trying . . . what to try . . . no matter . . . keep on . . . [Curtain starts down.] . . . hit on it in the end . . . then back . . . God is love . . . tender mercies . . . new every morning . . . back in the field . . . April morning . . . face in the grass . . . nothing but the larks . . . pick it up–

Play yourself into danger, demon of mine

Théâtre de l'Absurde

"Nothing is funnier than unhappiness ... it's the most comical thing in the world"

– Nell (from Endgame) by Samuel Beckett

Friday, I'm in love-liness

Yves Klein Blue "Polka" from Blacklab International on Vimeo.

23 de noviembre

23 de diciembre

Luego qué… ¿23 de enero?

It's just a matter of trust, for us, for lust

Me emociona el regreso de No doubt :)

Living Persona

La curiosidad mató al ozo

Qué importa si vivo triste

Somos libres amor, de encontrar a quien nos quiera, porque fallar se nos hizo costumbre y lastimarnos el diario de nuestra comunión. Merecemos sonreir porque es tan fácil aunque parezca prohibido. No, esta vez no habrá lugar a amenazas de suicidio, eso quedó en mi pasado a los 15 y 23 años y a pesar que los ojos me pesen y me duelan me niego a caer en depresión nuevamente. No puedo, no quiero enfermarme porque desde que moriste enfermo es el único estado que conosco y aunque no conosca otra estadía mi mente me pide que deje irte porque mereces descanso, porque los amores muertos no reviven y no nos besan los labios. Porque ningún beso es suficiente ni más que los tuyos, ni los ficticios, ni los inventados, ni del momento ni los fortuitos o comprados, porque ninguno empañó el agrado ni tampoco una pizca de la fascinación que me provocas. Porque el error de creerse feliz por extraños no compensa ni un momento lo que vivimos, nada. Y con mi muerte pago la deuda y con dolor y con sangre y con desdicha constante me conformo vivir, pero sabes... merecemos ser libres porque nos falta encontrar perdón, que aunque se pida no se siente, ni el tuyo ni el mio y para entonces esa libertad no es más que una mentira. No dudo que encontremos quien nos quiera pero entiendo que nadie nos querra como un día nos quisimos. Por más que intentemos olvidarnos, yo no podre. Y me duele, otra vez. Y lloro, otra vez, y te extraño de nuevo, y no te importa, como siempre (/desde el día en que moriste/).

Agradecimiento especial a Honorato Ávila por el excelente trabajo con mi dentadura.

Debo arriesgarme más artísticamente y menos sentimentalmente.

(aunque encuentro difícil esconder mis sentimientos cuando lo que me mueve es la pasión, pero qué mejor que canalizar los sentimientos al arte).

P.D.: Te amo.

Es bueno alejarse de la gente ¿no lo crees?

Cometiendo la estupidez de autofotografiarme porque es algo que odio

Disculpa si te amo y si te llamo por tu nombre pero hoy no pude olvidarte, otra vez.

En verdad no sé qué voy a hacer. Siento que me estoy muriendo de tristeza. No quiero nada no quiero a nadie y el tiempo me inspira a arañarme y arrancarme la piel a tajos. Siento escalofríos por mis brazos y sigo extrañándote. Mi vida pesa, la cabeza me duele, ya las lágrimas no me brotan de tan cansadas que andan. Me siento agotado, los momentos me agobian, la luz me da miedo, la desilusìón me aterra. Quiero que alguien me salve de su imagen.

I'm coming home To make it all right

I think you’re crazy, maybe

I think you’re crazy, maybe

I’ll see you in another life…

Ayer fue un gran día:

Carl’s Junior

Chips Jalapeño

Óleo

Gis Pastel

Amigo Artista

Parque Rufino Tamayo

Jugo de Arándano

:D

Estoy gozando de una tranquilidad que pensé no estaba disponible para mi. Ahora creo firmemente que estoy haciendo las cosas bien. Miro en retrospectiva y pienso lo mal que actuaba y lo mejor de todo es darse cuenta de las cosas, reflexionar y actuar para mejorar. Gracias a las personas que han estado en mi camino porque aprendí a sostenerme y tomar fuerzas de ustedes que tan solo con su sompañía la diferencia era inmensa.

Estoy mejor en muchos aspectos. Traigo demasiados planes en la cabeza que a veces es abrumador pero lo importante ahora es cumplir con mis promesas e ir siempre hacia adelante.

¿Cursi? ¿Demasiado alentador? Bueno, esa es parte de la tranquilidad y objetividad que creí no era para mi. Ahora sigamos adelante.

Los Tragaestimas existen

La gente sueña contigo y tú les dices en el sueño: Aléjate de él (celosamente). Les aprietas las piernas dolorosamente para evitar que huyan mientras los amenazas. Yo pongo mi mano sobre la tuya y te digo: Calma, no quiere hacerme daño. Te retiro y entonces te levantas parándote a un lado de la cama. Haces que la persona salga corriendo gritando y entonces te esfumas, eres humo gris.

Songs are floating around hurting like knives and stings

Sé muy bien a quien amo, amé y amaré por siempre.

You & me

Time is helping me to forget (/you/) and forgive (\me\)

Wish i were there

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. Just like up here_______[pointing on the left side of my chest] _______empty.

W_

_\E:L

C%_*O

__^M__

+E:@
B_:^^

A_= C =

[ / / K / / ]

Quiero ser polvo de estrellas

(y calcular la probabilidad de volver a chocar contigo)

Un beso de horror en nuestras bocas.

No soy inestable,

soy entrópico

Not that I’m smarter,

is just that I’m less stupid.

Yes, yes, Hit me harder!

I laugh my ass off when I read this.

What is sapiosexual?

One who finds intelligence the most sexually attractive feature.
"I want an incisive, inquisitive, insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical discussion is foreplay. I want someone who sometimes makes me go ouch due to their wit and evil sense of humor. I want someone that I can reach out and touch randomly. I want someone I can cuddle with.

I decided all that means that I am sapiosexual.

Cool, you fit in perfectly. Congrats!!

Don't you want to break the ice?

Intelligence in youth and all-cause-mortality: systematic review with meta-analysis

1. Catherine M Calvin¹,
2. Ian J Deary¹,*,
3. Candida Fenton²,
4. Beverly A Roberts¹,
5. Geoff Der²,
6. Nicola Leckenby¹ and
7. G David Batty¹,²,³

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, ²Medical Research Council Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK and ³Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, London, UK

1. *Corresponding author. Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK. E-mail:ian.deary@ed.ac.uk

• Accepted September 13, 2010

Abstract

Background A number of prospective cohort studies have examined the association between intelligence in childhood or youth and life expectancy in adulthood; however, the effect size of this association is yet to be quantified and previous reviews require updating.

Methods The systematic review included an electronic search of EMBASE, MEDLINE and PSYCHINFO databases. This yielded 16 unrelated studies that met inclusion criteria, comprising 22 453 deaths among 1 107 022 participants. Heterogeneity was assessed, and fixed effects models were applied to the aggregate data. Publication bias was evaluated, and sensitivity analyses were conducted.

Results A 1-standard deviation (SD) advantage in cognitive test scores was associated with a 24% (95% confidence interval 23–25) lower risk of death, during a 17- to 69-year follow-up. There was little evidence of publication bias (Egger’s intercept = 0.10, P = 0.81), and the intelligence–mortality association was similar for men and women. Adjustment for childhood socio-economic status (SES) in the nine studies containing these data had almost no impact on this relationship, suggesting that this is not a confounder of the intelligence–mortality association. Controlling for adult SES in five studies and for education in six studies attenuated the intelligence–mortality hazard ratios by 34 and 54%, respectively.

Conclusions Future investigations should address the extent to which attenuation of the intelligence–mortality link by adult SES indicators is due to mediation, over-adjustment and/or confounding. The explanation(s) for association between higher early-life intelligence and lower risk of adult mortality require further elucidation.

Introduction

Individual differences in intelligence (cognitive ability, mental ability) test scores, as measured by standardized IQ-type tests in childhood, show an inverse association with risk of death from all causes throughout adulthood. That is, higher intelligence appears to confer protection. This finding is replicated in prospective cohorts from several Westernized countries,¹ across different ranges of intelligence,² and in follow-up periods from early through to late adulthood.^2–4

Intelligence and somatic health may be inextricably linked throughout the life course. However, longitudinal studies help to establish causal pathway models of the effects of one upon the other. For example, morbidities such as diabetes, cancer, stroke and peripheral atherosclerosis, and/or their treatments, are reported to cause a decline in cognitive function after longitudinal follow-up.^5–10 This illness-to-cognitive ability direction of association is a commonplace finding. The reverse direction of association is studied less often, and has only recently come to be recognized under the term ‘cognitive epidemiology’.^11,12 That is, mental ability scores from early life associated with later adulthood morbidities, and before any somatic symptoms or risk factors of disease are manifest, provide evidence that cognitive abilities may be predictive of later health outcomes.

The association between premorbid intelligence and adult all-cause mortality was the subject of a systematic review,¹ in which all nine studies that met the inclusion criteria demonstrated an inverse relationship between intelligence and risk of dying by the time of follow-up. The review did not quantify the association. Furthermore, there were insufficient studies to address comprehensively a number of pertinent questions from this research domain. One issue is whether or not the association between intelligence and mortality is the same in women as in men. For example, it is possible that sex differences in the incidence, age at onset of health behaviours, and the extent to which these act as risk factors for disease,^13,14 could produce sex-specific intelligence–mortality gradients. Data from many more men than women have been included in intelligence–mortality cohort studies to date, mainly due to some studies using military conscript databases. Moreover, when mixed-sex cohorts report mortality risk as predicted by intelligence for men and women separately, they rarely test for statistical difference but, rather, report the observed trend. With more studies now reporting hazard ratios (HRs) for mortality by sex, there is an opportunity to quantify the predictive effects of intelligence on mortality separately for men and women.

A second issue yet to be evaluated systematically is the extent to which intelligence as a predictor of mortality is confounded by early-life environmental influences including socio-economic factors. Socio-economic status (SES) is established as an important determinant of public health inequalities,^15–18 including risk of mortality, and it can carry influence in childhood, via factors such as family income and parental education, to predict individual differences in childhood intelligence.^19,20 In this context, therefore, intelligence may be considered a mediating variable on the pathway between early-life influences and adult health outcomes. If early social factors substantially confound the link between intelligence and longevity, then adjusting for childhood SES would sizeably attenuate the effect size of the association between intelligence and mortality. In their systematic review, Batty et al.¹ identified three out of nine studies that adjusted for childhood SES: one of these showed no change from an unadjusted model, and two had modest attenuating effects, suggesting that intelligence has independent effects on risk of mortality from those of early socio-economic influences. Due to this small number of studies, the role of childhood SES in the intelligence–mortality link requires further investigation.

One explanation why intelligence may exert an influence on life expectancy is its ability to predict educational outcomes²¹ and occupational class,²² which can both affect health outcomes via a number of mechanisms; for example, the knowledge and living conditions that contribute to better personal health risk assessment, behaviours and management.²³ In population studies these adult SES factors are themselves inversely associated with risk of mortality.^24–26 Some prospective cohorts take account of the attenuating effects of education and adult SES in estimating the risk of mortality according to intelligence; yet, to date, their influence has not been properly evaluated.

Investigators are giving increasing attention to the issues raised here, with a higher rate of publications reporting risk estimates for all-cause mortality according to differences in intelligence since the first systematic review.¹ There is now an opportunity to re-evaluate this augmented literature, this time with a quantitative, meta-analytic approach. The systematic review by Batty et al.¹ reported the overall quality of the nine studies as ‘moderate’, which was in part related to the weak validity of some measures of premorbid intelligence. Therefore, one important change to the systematic process reported here is the inclusion of studies in which only valid cognitive assessments were used. Kilgour et al.²⁷ also raised a number of methodological considerations that should be addressed in intelligence–mortality studies, including taking account of ascertainment bias, age, sex and education. In this article we address the influence of these factors using subgroup analyses.

Accordingly, the aims of this report are to (i) quantify the association between premorbid intelligence and all-cause mortality, (ii) determine whether there are sex differences in the association and (iii) conduct subgroup analyses on studies that adjust for early-life SES, adult SES and education, to discover their magnitude of influence as potential confounders or mediators of the intelligence–mortality association.

Methods

Systematic review process

An electronic search was conducted of premorbid intelligence and all-cause mortality in all published articles, letters, abstracts and reviews, using the electronic databases MEDLINE, EMBASE and PSYCHINFO (via Ovid). Searches were limited to articles on humans published in the English language. The databases were searched using a cognitive ability-related term (‘Aptitude or Cognition’* or ‘Cognitive function’* or ‘Cognitive ability’ or ‘Cognitive characteristics’ or‘Cognitive style’ or ‘intellectual ability’ or ‘Intelligence measures’ or ‘Intelligence quotient’ or ‘Intelligence test’* or ‘Intelligence’* or ‘IQ or Language test’* or ‘Memory’ or ‘Mental ability’* or ‘Mental capacity’ or ‘problem-solving’ or ‘Problem solving’ or ‘Psychological performance’ or ‘Psychometrics’) AND a mortality term (‘Cause of Death’* or ‘Cause of Death trends’ or ‘Death’* or‘death rate’ or ‘Incidence’ or ‘Morbidity’ or ‘Morbidity trends’ or ‘Mortality Rate’ or ‘Mortality risk’ or ‘Mortality*’ or ‘Mortality trends’), an asterisk allowing the search term to precede a longer word or phrase.

The electronic search, conducted on 5 February 2010, yielded 19 236 articles. Two authors (C.C. and N.L.) independently scanned each title and abstract, retrieving articles on the basis of their relevance to intelligence and mortality. The inclusion criteria listed below were applied to their respective shortlists of papers. The reference lists of the selected articles were then examined, along with review papers on intelligence and mortality, and our own personal files, for articles that the electronic search might have missed. Among the final list of articles, when more than one paper reported intelligence–mortality associations from the same cohort, thereby duplicating data, three authors (C.C., D.B. and I.D.) agreed upon those papers to be retained, according to criteria of the following order: (i) the article reported HRs for mortality per 1-standard deviation (SD) difference in IQ-type score; (ii) the cohort size was larger; (iii) it was the original publication to report the data.

Inclusion criteria

We included published cohort data which fulfilled criteria similar to that of the previous systematic review on intelligence and all-cause mortality:¹ (i) to minimize risk of reverse causality, only cohorts where intelligence test score data were collected at a mean age of 24 years or younger were included (the period classified as childhood and youth according to the World Health Organisation Study Group²⁸); (ii) the intelligence and mortality data were collected at the level of the individual; (iii) the relationship between intelligence and all-cause mortality was reported quantitatively. We also stipulated that: (iv) the premorbid test should demonstrate an acceptable degree of validity as a measure of intelligence; and (v) the cohort was not selected from a clinical or unrepresentative population.

Study descriptions for meta-analysis

A total of 16 prospective longitudinal cohort studies included 22 453 deaths among 1 107 022 participants. These were from five countries: UK (n = 7), USA (n = 5), Sweden (n = 2), Australia (n = 1) and Denmark (n = 1), ranging in size from 862 to 994 262 participants. Figure 2 illustrates these variables according to year of publication, showing a trend for larger cohorts accumulating in more recent years. Premorbid intelligence test scores were taken from school records (n = 10), military or national service conscription records (n = 5), or a research database (n = 1). The average age at testing ranged from 7 to 20 years, and length of follow-up ranged from 17 to 69 years. Six cohorts were all male (five from conscription databases), and the remainder were mixed sex. A variety of cognitive assessments were used across studies, and we identified evidence for each of them as having validity as standardized measures of intelligence. The concurrent or predictive validity of five tests used across nine of the study cohorts^{3,4,35,50–55} have been described elsewhere.¹

Discussion

The present meta-analysis of 16 published prospective cohort studies, comprising over 1.1 million participants and 22 453 deaths, demonstrates and quantifies the consistently-reported association between higher premorbid intelligence and lower mortality risk. A 1-SD advantage in intelligence in childhood and youth was associated with a 24% lower risk of mortality. The effect was similar in men and women, and was not explained by socio-economic differences in early life, as indicated by parental occupation or income. The association was attenuated by approximately a third after adjusting for adult SES and by approximately a half after adjusting for educational experience. Intelligence remained a predictor of mortality after these attenuating effects, and removal of one study that carried by far the largest weighting in the models³ did little to change the magnitude of these effects.

This is the first meta-analysis of studies examining the relationship between premorbid intelligence and all-cause mortality. A recent systematic review, which was based on nine identified at that time, reported the inverse association.¹ Since then the number of publications of the intelligence–mortality association has grown, and the 16 unrelated cohorts we identified represent more than four times as many deaths. We found little evidence of publication bias, and so the estimated risk of mortality according to a 1-SD advantage in intelligence may be generalized to cohorts beyond those included in this meta-analysis, at least to those of the five countries included in the analyses. Our treatment of ORs as HRs in two studies where the absolute risk of death was >5%, which could have incurred statistical error, was not found to inflate the aggregate effect size.

Heterogeneity was not apparent across the studies despite most using different assessments of premorbid intelligence. This may be because most omnibus intelligence tests of the types used in the identified studies show strong loadings on general intelligence, g.⁶⁶ The intelligence–mortality association was, however, slightly weaker among cohorts of younger ages at cognitive testing, and those of longer follow-up duration. As it was the same cohorts that were followed up beyond 40 years who were the youngest at intelligence testing, it is difficult to establish which factor would make the larger contribution to attenuating the intelligence–mortality association. However, it seems less likely to have been due to differences in the validity of intelligence tests taken at younger and older ages, given the equally low heterogeneity among these two cohort groupings. It may be that older cohorts at cognitive testing show a steeper intelligence–mortality gradient because of the increased likelihood of bodily insults, or, it is still possible that the association varies according to age at mortality, most likely due to cause of death.

Lack of confounding by sex and early-life SES

Our observation of negligible differences between men and women in the relative risk of mortality as predicted by intelligence, may be surprising given well-documented sex differences in patterns of risk factors, onset and prevalence of specific diseases and life expectancies.⁶⁷ However, there were exceptions in individual studies, with differences between men and women reported, although there seem to be cohort-specific explanations for these. In one study⁵⁵ the lower relative risk among men was probably due to the rise in deaths of higher intelligence servicemen during World War II.⁶⁸ In another, the lower relative risk among women could have resulted from a lack of statistical power due to the small number of female deaths.⁵⁹ The result from an older birth cohort study⁵³ of a null association among women, could have been influenced by a relatively higher incidence of smoking among well-educated women during an era before the health hazards of smoking were widely known. In general, however, data from large post-war birth cohort studies show negligible sex differences in the effects of intelligence in relation to risk of mortality, and results from our meta-analyses support this. Equivalent effect sizes by sex still do not mean that the mechanisms that explain the intelligence–mortality association act in equal measure for men and women, and it continues to be of interest to study sex differences in cognitive epidemiology. Differences in health behaviours, risk patterns and medical interventions should also be considered when comparing ethnic groups or diverse countries. However, there is currently a lack of cohort data to evaluate how such group differences influence the risk of all-cause mortality as predicted by premorbid intelligence.

Socio-economic conditions in early life, determined by parental occupation or income, were also unlikely confounders. Individual differences in cognitive ability appear to act independently of childhood social inequalities in predicting all-cause mortality. There may of course be alternative early-life factors contributing to confounding that were not covariates of the cohorts we reviewed. Among three studies that adjusted for birth weight in multivariate-adjusted models, one reported no change from unadjusted models,² and two reported a risk attenuation of 1 and 4%, respectively, compared with models that adjusted for childhood SES⁶¹ and education.⁵¹ However, recent evidence suggests that birth weight may not be the ideal indicator for exposures in the intrauterine environment, which carry their most critical influence on neurological and physiological development during the early prenatal period.⁶⁹ Other qualitative characteristics in early childhood may further explain the relationship between premorbid intelligence and longevity,²⁷ including style of parenting and cognitive stimulation at home,⁷⁰ or the effects of diet. However, so far, the potential confounding of these early-life factors have not been demonstrated, and these other suggested variables are likely to be associated with parental intelligence.

Attenuation of the intelligence–mortality association

Education and adult SES were found partially to attenuate the risk of mortality according to a 1-SD advantage in intelligence. Premorbid cognitive ability may act via occupational status and wealth to reduce the risk of mortality, by providing a less hazardous work environment, a safer and more comfortable home environment, and the material means to access better and more immediate medical care. Furthermore, intelligence may be mediated by education to reduce the likelihood of death, perhaps by increasing a person’s receptivity to health education messages (thereby reducing negative behaviours such as smoking and excess alcohol consumption, and promoting exercise and healthy eating), and by improving comprehension of medical terminology and instruction that impacts on disease management and prevention. Nevertheless, the results to date cannot tell us for certain whether education and adult SES are simply partial mediators of the association between intelligence and mortality, or whether the results reflect over-adjustments if both factors are partial surrogates for intelligence, or if these variables confound intelligence–mortality associations.⁷¹ Structural equation modelling can examine for statistical mediation, and one study to employ this technique reported that the effect of a general intelligence factor on mortality was entirely mediated by income, education and poor physical health in adulthood.⁴⁹However, in this study, with cognitive ability measured at age 20 years, the association between intelligence and mortality could also have been partially confounded by education. In our meta-analyses, two out of five studies that adjusted for adult SES,^50,65 and three out of six studies adjusting for education,^3,63,65 had intelligence test scores measured in later youth (19–20 years of age), when most people have completed education. There is evidence for a causal association from childhood intelligence scores to later educational achievement in longitudinal studies, and it is also likely educational experience can boost cognitive test scores to some extent.⁷² Therefore reciprocal dynamic pathways between intelligence, education and adult SES need to be considered.

Few studies in the meta-analysis adjusted for both education and adult SES in the same model. It is suggested that both factors may overlap in their attenuation effects on the intelligence–mortality association,⁴⁰ but there is also evidence to show that they are not interchangeable, and have independent effects on health outcomes.^73,74 Among three studies to control simultaneously for adult SES and education, the relative risk of mortality was entirely attenuated.^51,52,63Interpretation of these findings should also consider the likelihood of over-adjustment. In studies that reported complete attenuation effects of the intelligence–mortality gradient after multivariate adjustments, in addition to controlling for socio-economic and educational variables, it was noted that three studies adjusted for smoking,^51,52,65 two adjusted for alcohol consumption,^51,65 and there were further adjustments made for psychiatric illness,⁶⁵ parental interest in a child’s education,⁵¹ or the quality and care of a household.⁵² These potential explanatory factors are worthy of further investigation, particularly as two of these (smoking and alcohol consumption) are important risk factors for various chronic diseases.

Future directions

The present meta-analysis was unable to consider cause of death in the intelligence–mortality association, but this would seem an important area for future systematic review, particularly as it was likely to have driven the stronger effect sizes of cohorts followed to younger ages in adulthood. For example, it may be that intelligence has a stronger relation to mortality caused by external events such as accidents,⁵⁴ more prevalent among younger adults, than cause-specific mortalities more typical in later life.⁴ Studies have already replicated the inverse association between premorbid intelligence and cardiovascular disease-related mortality, with increased effect size magnitudes for coronary heart disease-related deaths^3,75–78 compared with stroke-related deaths.^75,77,78 The relationship between childhood cognitive ability and risk of cancer mortality is also likely to vary by type.⁴ For example, smoking-related cancers might carry a stronger association with intelligence^4,79,80 than other cancer types.⁷⁹ Specific causes of death are therefore likely to be crucial in providing explanations as to why intelligence predicts life expectancy, and larger cohorts with increased numbers of cause-specific mortalities will help to clarify this issue.

In the present study we found that education and social position in adulthood are factors that may help to account for the intelligence–all-cause mortality association. However, the extent to which these SES indicators act as partial surrogates for intelligence, or mediators and/or confounders of the intelligence–mortality association requires formal testing. Future longitudinal studies of mortality risk with repeated measures of intelligence, education, and adult SES, spanning childhood to adulthood could contribute to do this. Twin studies to determine the extent to which intelligence shares genetic and environmental causes with health, education, and social class, in predicting mortality, will also help to inform this issue. With evidence of associations between cognitive performance and education showing substantial heritability,^81,82 it is possible that these variables may share some genetic effects in predicting death.

Although early-life SES did not help to explain the intelligence–mortality association and birthweight is another unlikely confounder, future studies could explore alternative early-life variables, in particular the intrauterine environment, and how these might simultaneously determine neurological and physiological integrity, in interaction with genetic influences, leading to lifelong effects on cognition and health.