Right or wrong? On the difficult relationship between epidemiologists and handedness.
The declining prevalence of left-handers with age has resulted in the hypothesis that sinistrality, being the result of a developmental insult, may be associated with a reduced life span. While it is plausible that some individuals become left-handed as a consequence of neurologic impairment, the literature on handedness itself appears to suffer from a number of problems. These include the ease with which information on handedness can be collected in the absence of prior hypotheses, the failure to address heterogeneity among left-handers, and the selective publication of positive results. Even if individual contributions, including one published in this issue of Epidemiology, are of reasonable quality, all the above problems conspire to lower the credibility of this area of research.
Basso
Olga
O
Epidemiology Branch, NIEHS, NIH, HHS, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. bassoo2@niehs.nih.gov
D015982:Bias; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods*; D015984:Causality; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D011157:Population Dynamics; D017594:Publication Bias