Recent study indicated that a lower than average IQ is one of the important risk factors for heart disease and death due to it.

Research team led by Dr. David Batty, of the Medical Research Council's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow analyzed data collected from 4,300 male U. S. veterans from different socioeconomic background.

The study subjects were given intelligence tests when they entered the Army during the Vietnam War and again in middle age. Within 15 years
62 study participants died of heart disease. Researchers studied the relationship between IQ and the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke.

Study indicated that after considering all other known heart disease risk factors difference in IQ level explained more than 20% of the difference in mortality between high and low socioeconomic groups.

Research team also found that men of the lowest socioeconomic status have two and seven times higher risk of dying due to heart disease than the most advantaged men.

Established risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking and obesity, explained about 40 percent of the difference but IQ alone has