From Graham Cox
I was surprised that length of the lifeline in the palm of your hand was not mentioned in your look at predicting longevity (10 December, p 46). In “Relationship between longevity and lifeline: a manual study of 100 patients”, P. G. Newrick, E. Affie and R. J. Corrall of the Department of Medicine, Bristol Royal Infirmary, established “a highly significant association between the two” after controlling for hand size in a study carried out at autopsy.
The editor writes:
• We understand this paper was for an edition of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. The data on which the study was based were from real measurements of cadavers, but it is perhaps best interpreted as a demonstration of how apparent associations seen in data can lead to spurious conclusions.
Hothfield, Kent, UK
