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Objective: We examined the association between the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and all-cause mortality in 4462 middle-aged Vietnam-era veterans., Methods: We split the study population into half-samples. In each half, we used proportional hazards (Cox) regression to test the 550 MMPI items' associations with mortality over 15years. In all participants, we subjected significant (p<.01) items in both halves to principal-components analysis (PCA). We used Cox regression to test whether these components predicted mortality when controlling for other predictors (demographics, cognitive ability, health behaviors, and mental/physical health)., Results: Eighty-nine items were associated with mortality in both half-samples. PCA revealed Neuroticism/Negative Affectivity, Somatic Complaints, Psychotic/Paranoia, and Antisocial components, and a higher-order component, Personal Disturbance. Individually, Neuroticism/Negative Affectivity (HR=1.55; 95% CI=1.39, 1.72), Somatic Complaints (HR=1.66; 95% CI=1.52, 1.80), Psychotic/Paranoid (HR=1.44; 95% CI=1.32, 1.57), Antisocial (HR=1.79; 95% CI=1.59, 2.01), and Personal Disturbance (HR=1.74; 95% CI=1.58, 1.91) were associated with risk. Including covariates attenuated these associations (28.4 to 54.5%), though they were still significant. After entering Personal Disturbance into models with each component, Neuroticism/Negative Affectivity and Somatic Complaints were significant, although Neuroticism/Negative Affectivity's were now protective (HR=0.73; 95% CI=0.58, 0.92). When the four components were entered together with or without covariates, Somatic Complaints and Antisocial were significant risk factors., Conclusions: Somatic Complaints and Personal Disturbance are associated with increased mortality risk. Other components' effects varied as a function of variables in the model., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: People with higher intelligence in early life have a lower subsequent risk of coronary heart disease events, but the explanation for these observations is unclear., Aims: To examine whether intelligence in early adulthood is associated with risk of subclinical atherosclerosis in mid-life, as indicated by the ankle brachial index (ABI), and investigate its potential mediating role in the association between intelligence and mortality., Methods: Participants were 4286 male US veterans whose intelligence was measured on enlistment into military service at a mean age of 20.4 years and whose ABI was measured by Doppler as part of a detailed medical examination at a mean age of 38.3 years., Results: Higher intelligence in early adulthood was associated with a higher ABI in mid-life. For an SD increase in intelligence, after adjusting for age, ABI (× 10) rose by 0.05 (0.02, 0.07), and the OR (95% CI) for having a low ABI (≤ 0.90) was 0.84 (0.72 to 0.98). Further adjustment for smoking, serum cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose concentrations, blood pressure, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, body mass index, alcohol intake, education and measures of socioeconomic position had little or no attenuating effect on these associations. Lower ABI was associated with increased mortality from all causes and cardiovascular disease but it did not account for the associations between IQ and mortality from these causes., Conclusions: Men of lower intelligence may be more susceptible to atherogenesis, though this mechanism does not appear to explain their increased risk of earlier death.

Objectives: (i) examine the relation, if any, of pre-morbid IQ scores at 20 years of age with the risk of later cancer mortality; and (ii) explore the role, if any, of potential mediating factors (e.g. smoking, obesity), assessed in middle age, in explaining the IQ-cancer relation., Methods: Cohort study of 14, 491 male, Vietnam-era, former US army personnel with IQ test scores at around 20 years of age (1965-71), who participated in a risk factor survey at around age 38 years of age (1985-6), who were then followed up for mortality experience for 15 years., Results: There were 176 cancer deaths during mortality surveillance. We found an inverse association of IQ with later mortality from all cancers combined (age-adjusted HR(per one SD decrease in IQ); 95% confidence interval: 1.27; 1.10, 1.46) and smoking-related malignancies (1.37; 1.14, 1.64). There was some attenuation following control for mediating variables, particularly smoking and income, but the gradients generally held at conventional levels of statistical significance., Conclusions: Higher scores on pre-morbid IQ tests are associated with lower risk of later cancer morality. The strength of the relation was partially mediated by established risk factors.