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| Sholeh Patrick |
Education, longevity linked
Want to live longer? Try college.
A study published in the March/April issue of Health Affairs concluded that life expectancy in the U.S. is mostly increasing among those with more than 12 years of education. Those with more than a high school diploma can expect to live to an average age of 82; those without it live an average of 75 years.
At least 20 percent of the suspected why is tobacco. Those who attend college are less likely to smoke, and thus less likely to develop emphysema and lung disease.
Life stress and related factors may play a large part.
"Those with less education are likely to have lower income. They're likely to live in areas that have their own health threats, either through crime or poor housing conditions. In addition, they may have worse access to health insurance coverage and health services," said lead researcher Ellen R. Meara of Harvard Medical School.
The study team used census data and death certificates issued during the 1980s and 1990s.
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center, thinks fighting poverty and improving education are key to narrowing the divide.
"(T)he gap in life expectancy between the more educated and the less has actually widened," Katz said.
Ironically, the gap has increased in spite of federal efforts to reduce them. A goal of the Healthy People 2010 initiative is to "eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population." Gopal K. Singh, a demographer at the Department of Health and Human Services, said "the growing inequalities in life expectancy" mirrored trends in infant mortality and in death from heart disease and certain cancers.
According to the New York Times, researchers Singh and Mohammad Siahpush developed an index to measure social and economic conditions, using census data on education, income, poverty, housing and other factors. In 1982 people in the most affluent group could expect to live 2.8 years longer than people in the most deprived group (75.8 vs. 73 years). By 2000, the difference had increased to 4.5 years (79.2 versus 74.7 years), and the gap continues to grow.
"Life expectancy was higher for the most affluent in 1980 than for the most deprived group in 2000," Singh said.
Similar studies in other countries, such as Brazil and in Eastern Europe, have also tied education and related income to life expectancies.
Thanks to Stefany Bales for the topic.
Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. E-mail sholehjo@hotmail.com.
