Sunday, October 25, 2009
Stay in education and you may live longer.
A new survey of 1.5m individuals concludes that staying in education increases life expectancy.
A new piece of research evaluating the benefits of education has been published by Swedish academics. The researchers surveyed 1.5 million Swedes aged 30-59. The researchers found that the level of education a woman experienced had a direct impact on her health in later life and that of her partner. A woman with a school education had a 53% greater risk of dying early than a university educated woman.
The researchers looked at data from the 1990 Swedish census and followed up information on causes of death, including cancer and circulatory diseases like heart disease and stroke from the cause of death registers up to 2003.
The findings also revealed that the level of education a woman received also had a significant impact on the health of her partner; in fact the education experience and social status of his female partner were more important for a man's life chances than his own education. A man whose partner had only a school education has a 25% greater risk of dying early than if she had had a university education
Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, of the UK's Faculty of Public Health, said: "This study shows how closely education, lifestyle and long-term health are linked together.
"If we're serious about radically improving the health of the nation, we must fully invest in high-quality education at all levels."
The authors said: "Education is of great importance through a direct influence on mortality as well as indirectly via occupation and income."
The study appears in the journal Epidemiology and Community Health.