Thread by @porszag

The effect of surviving the Holocaust or POW camp on future life expectancy - it's more complicated than you might think....
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl… @bopinion

Living through a horrendous event, like confinement in a concentration camp or prisoner-of-war camp, creates health problems. But those who survive also seem to have other characteristics that tend to make people live longer. The resilience effect can often overcome scarring.

Data on Holocaust survivors in new @JAMA_current analysis: Holocaust survivors had higher rates of hypertension, cancer, dementia and obesity. For example, 83 percent of the survivors had hypertension, compared to 67 percent of the control group.

The surprising part is that despite being in worse health, the Holocaust survivors lived 7.1 years longer — their average age at death was 85 years, compared to 78 among the control group.

What about the children of survivors, though? Sons of former Civil War POWs captured after mid-1863 (when POW camps became much harsher) died sooner than either the sons of non-POWs or POWs captured earlier.

1. It's not that a traumatic time is anything but hideous. It’s instead that those surviving such an event may be sturdier than others, and by so much that it more than offsets the additional ailments they wind up with.

2. The effects of extreme events may be passed on to future generations: Whatever the effect on survivors, the Civil War evidence suggests their children may wind up paying a price.