Back to Search
Start Over
Educational attainment and longevity: results from the REGARDS U.S. national cohort study of blacks and whites.
- Source :
-
Annals of epidemiology [Ann Epidemiol] 2015 May; Vol. 25 (5), pp. 323-8. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Feb 07. - Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- Background: Educational attainment may be an important determinant of life expectancy. However, few studies have prospectively evaluated the relationship between educational attainment and life expectancy using adjustments for other social, behavioral, and biological factors.<br />Method: The data were from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study that enrolled 30,239 black and white adults (≥45 years) between 2003 and 2007. Demographic and cardiovascular risk information was collected and participants were followed for health outcomes. Educational attainment was categorized as less than high school education, high school graduate, some college, or college graduate. Proportional hazards analysis was used to characterize survival by level of education.<br />Results: Educational attainment and follow-up data were available on 29,657 (98%) of the participants. Over 6.3 years of follow-up, 3673 participants died. There was a monotonically increasing risk of death with lower levels of educational attainment. The same monotonic relationship held with adjustments for age, race, sex, cardiovascular risk factors, and health behaviors. The unadjusted hazard ratio for those without a high school education in comparison with college graduates was 2.89 (95% CI = 2.64-3.18). Although adjustment for income, health behaviors, and cardiovascular risk factors attenuated the relationship, the same consistent pattern was observed after adjustment. The relationship between educational attainment and longevity was similar for black and white participants. The monotonic relationship between educational attainment and longevity was observed for all age groups, except for those aged 85 years or more.<br />Conclusions: Educational attainment is a significant predictor of longevity. Other factors including age, race, income, health behaviors, and cardiovascular risk factors only partially explain the relationship.<br /> (Published by Elsevier Inc.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Aged
Cardiovascular Diseases ethnology
Cardiovascular Diseases mortality
Cardiovascular Diseases physiopathology
Cohort Studies
Female
Humans
Longevity physiology
Male
Middle Aged
Prospective Studies
Stroke ethnology
Stroke mortality
Stroke physiopathology
Survival Analysis
United States
Black or African American
Black People statistics & numerical data
Cause of Death
Educational Status
Health Behavior ethnology
Life Expectancy ethnology
White People statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-2585
- Volume :
- 25
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Annals of epidemiology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 25791026
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.01.017