Key result
Heart disease requiring cardiac rehabilitation is linked to a ~150% higher prevalence of left-handedness.
Why the study?
Many studies report that left-handers have shorter longevity than right-handers, and this study explores a possible link to heart disease.
Is left-handedness associated with an increased prevalence of heart disease in the elderly?
Case-Control
Is left-handedness associated with an increased prevalence of heart disease in the elderly?
Absolute Event Rate: 16.7% vs 6.7%
p-value: p=0.0028
Left-handedness is significantly more prevalent among elderly patients in cardiac rehabilitation compared to controls, suggesting a potential link between left-handedness and heart disease.
Left-handedness was associated with cardiac rehab enrollment in the elderly; leaves open any causal link to heart disease and requires prospective validation.
Many studies report that left-handers have a shorter longevity than right-handers, and the present study may provide a possible explanation for that finding. In a Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit for the elderly with a mean age of 75.2 years the prevalence of left-handers was 16.7%. This latter value was significantly different (p = 0.0028) from the 6.7% in controls of similar age. These data suggest that heart disease may be one reason for a reduced longevity among left-handers. Left-handers use the right hemisphere for movement, and unilateral activation of that hemisphere in the form of EEG desynchronization and deactivation in the form of EEG slow waves are both related to cardiac abnormalities.
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Hughes et al. (2008) conducted a case-control in Heart disease. Heart disease (Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit admission) vs. Controls of similar age was evaluated on Prevalence of left-handedness (p=0.0028). Heart disease requiring cardiac rehabilitation was associated with a significantly higher prevalence of left-handedness compared to controls of similar age (16.7% vs 6.7%, p=0.0028).
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