# Left Handed Life Expectancy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 8, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913 "2003-07-08T02:06:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Joetimg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Joetimg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joetimg)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913/1 "2003-07-08T02:06:13Z")

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I keep hearing here and there the ‘fact’ that Left handed people’s life average life expectancy is LESS than right handed people’s.

The amount ranges from 5 to 10 years each time I hear it. But no-one ever quotes a RELIABLE source for this information.

Can anyone explain (if true, it could be an old wives tale) what scientific reason there is behind this?

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**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913/2 "2003-07-08T02:25:23Z")

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[The man himself](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_092.html) has covered this one.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913/3 "2003-07-08T02:32:44Z")

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I don’t believe it’s true.

[Here is a twin study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10955411&dopt=Abstract) showing no survival disadvantage for left-handedness.

[Here is a re-do of the baseball player study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7936949&dopt=Abstract) (which was the one that originally suggested that lefties die sooner). If anything, the newer study showed righties die sooner!

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/left-handed-life-expectancy/186913/4 "2003-07-08T14:19:35Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Fiver \*  
> \*\*[The man himself](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_092.html) has covered this one. \*\*

I posted many abstracts and specific citations in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=181780) that specifically addressed the many lies spread about left-handers by the mass media.