Children who have strong neurocognitive skills may have better health in later life, research suggests, after finding they were at reduced risk of premature death many years later. However, benefits in three of the neurocognitive functions examined—performance IQ, full-scale IQ, and arithmetic skills—were mitigated by family dysfunction and poverty.

The study revealed the decades-long benefits of greater neurocognitive function in areas such as visual-motor function, sensory-motor function, auditory-vocal association, IQ, and academic skills. Nearly all the neurocognitive scores were associated with the risk of mortality in mid-adulthood, the team noted in JAMA Network Open .

“This provides robust evidence that neurocognitive development across a range of areas is beneficial for adul

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