How going to university could save your life
Patrick Krueger, assistant professor at CU Denver’s Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences, reported that figure is comparable to the number of deaths could have been avoided by cigarette smokers who quit.
“In public health policy, we often focus on changing health behaviors such as diet, smoking, and drinking”, researcher Virginia Chang said in a statement.
The research study found in the record PLOS ONE explains a little more than 145.000 death cases could possibly be left alone each america in the event the pupils that did not full highschool have consumed their ealier secondary school qualifications.
Data enabling an estimate of the number of deaths attributed to low levels of education were available on more than a million people from 1986 to 2006. For example, mortality rates fell modestly among those with high school degrees, but much more rapidly among those with college degrees.
Moreover, another 110,000 deaths back in 2010 could have been saved only if people who had some college completed their degree. The findings also indicate that people with higher education were the ones who benefited the most from treatments and prevention programs for heart disease.
Researchers looked over census data from 1925 to 2010 to see what kind of an impact education might have on one’s health and mortality.
An interesting note is that heart disease posed a greater risk than cancer to the health of participants with a low level of education. It has been noted that certain policies that encouraged an improved educational attainment can also improve survival in the United States population. And if everyone in the population got a bachelor’s degree, the total untimely deaths would be reduced by 554,525.
More than 10 percent of American adults between the ages of 25 and 34 don’t have a high school degree, the researchers said.
They found that those who missed out on higher education tended to live shorter lives, even when allowing for other social factors. By the time students reach this level, the boost to life expectancy may be more down to quality of life than knowledge.
The findings suggest that US policies aimed at increasing people’s education level could improve residents’ longevity, the researchers said.
They discovered that education is highly indicative of numerous contributory factors such as healthier behaviors, higher income and psychological and social well-being. “In addition to education policy’s obvious relevance for improving learning and economic opportunities, its benefits to health should also be thought of as a key rationale”.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers from New York University, University of Colorado and the University of North Carolina.
Initiative to Improve Health in the U.S.