Low Income and Work Stress Contribute to Link Between Education, Heart Disease and Stroke

Low educational levels predict an increased risk of developing or dying from heart disease and stroke according to the first nationwide study of the link between education and risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal today (Tuesday), is also the first nationwide study to look at the extent to which low income and work stress plays a role in the association between education and cardiovascular disease. It found that low income and work stress could explain between 21-54% of the increased risk of developing or dying from cardiovascular disease among people with and without cardiovascular or metabolic diseases at the start of the study.

Researchers led by Dr Elisabeth Framke at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment in Copenhagen, Denmark, analysed data from 1,638,270 Danish residents aged 30 to 59 in 2000 who did not have cardiovascular disease or diabetes at the start of the study. In addition, they looked at 41,944 people who had been diagnosed already with cardiometabolic disease, which includes heart disease and metabolic conditions such as diabetes. They followed them all until the end of 2014 to see who developed or died from these medical conditions.

Dr Framke said: “We found that among healthy individuals, those with a low educational level have a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease than those with a high educational level. Among 10,000 men with low education, 61 would develop a cardiovascular disease within 12 months, whereas among 10,000 men with high education, only 34 would develop the disease within this time-frame. After taking some variables into account that could affect the results, such as age and migration background, this corresponds to a 1.62-fold higher risk among those with low education.

Read more at European Society of Cardiology

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