Objectively intelligent.

[LessinSF]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Young people in the South seem to be more at risk.

In short, age may be irrelevant. Preexisting conditions such as heart disease, cancer, lung disease, or diabetes matter. Of course, those exist in greater percentages among the old. But also in greater percentages among the young in the American south, i.e. the fat smokers who don't exercise and eat poorly.

tl;dr - once again, people looked at correlation and wrongly saw causation.