More education extends life expectancy

Education levels are an increasingly important indication of health, as Americans without high school diplomas live shorter, sicker lives, according to a new policy brief from Virginia Commonwealth University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
The brief — and an animated video that accompanies it — points out that life expectancy has declined over the past two decades for Americans without high school diploma, especially for white women. A 25-year-old who hasn’t finished high school is likely to die nine years sooner than a peer with a college degree.
The brief notes that Americans with less education are more likely to have diabetes, heart disease and other risk factors, such as obesity and smoking. About 15 percent of adults without a high school education have diabetes, more than double the rate for college graduates.
“I don’t think most Americans know that children with less education are destined to live sicker and die sooner,” said Steven Woolf, MD, director of the university’s Center on Society and Health. “It should concern parents and it should concern policy leaders. In today’s knowledge economy, policymakers must remember that cutting ‘non-health’ programs like education will cost us more in the end by making Americans sicker, driving up health care costs, and weakening the competitiveness of our economy.”

The center plans three additional policy briefs in the coming months to explore the link between education and health.