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Adult education and its effect on heart disease

Author: Tarani Chandola
Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science
Type of case study: Research

About the research

Public policy and debate often focuses on ensuring we get a good start in the early phases of life, from childcare to acquiring an education and qualifications. However, those who had a poorer start and return later in life are often overlooked by researchers. While returning to education can have social, economic and personal benefits, the effect of adult education on health has not been explored in depth. Researchers from the University of Manchester, the MRC Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, and Imperial College London have set out to fill in this gap.

These researchers were specifically interested in those who left school early and who returned to education to gain further qualifications in adulthood, and the effect this had (if any) on their chances of avoiding coronary heart disease. Using longitudinal data from UK Data Service, they discovered that there is an association between a lower risk factor for heart disease and earning qualifications in adulthood. Those who had no qualifications originally saw the biggest decrease in their risk factor when they returned to education, compared with those who had originally gained qualifications as a young person and went on to gain higher qualifications later in life.

Although this study does not prove that gaining qualifications in adulthood improves your health, it shows there may be health benefits as well as personal, social and economic ones.

This report was commented on by a civil servant at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who was interested in using the results from the study. Funding for public libraries has been reduced in recent years and which potentially reduces their role in adult learning. The long term health effects of a reduction in the provision of resources for adult learning are of potential concern to the Department.

Methodology

The authors linked longitudinal data on educational attainment measured at various points during the participants’ lifecycle to the biomedical data at mid-life in a linear regression analysis to monitor the relationships between the two.

Qualifications earned by age 23 were considered those earned before adulthood. Those earned after age 23 were classed as those earned in adulthood.

Publications

Chandola, T., Plewis, I., Morris, J.M., Mishra, G. and Blane, M. (2011) ‘Is adult education associated with reduced coronary heart disease risk?’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 40, pp. 1499-1509. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyr087 Retrieved 6 September 2013 from http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/6/1499.full.pdf