A new study shows Americans with 12 years of education or more can expect to live to 82, opposed to the life expectancy for those with less than 12 years of education, 75.
People with more education had almost a year and half of increased life expectancy and people with less education had a life expectancy increase of only six months compared to a study taken two years later that concluded the better educated saw their life expectancy increase by 1.6 years and the less educated life expectancy didn't increase at all.
"Those with less education are likely to have lower income," said lead researcher Ellen R. Meara, an assistant professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. "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,"
The National Longitudinal Mortality Study used death certificates, plus estimates from Census data, to create two datasets, one covering 1981 to 1988 and the other from 1990 to 2000, and found that one-fifth of the difference in mortality between well-educated and less-educated groups can be accounted for by smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema, gender differences, income, and surroundings.
As the gap in life expectancy between the more educated and the less educated widens, the challenge to find ways to extend life expectancy for all groups in U.S society must be addressed by the American public and the U.S. government, so poverty and limited education can cease to be enemies of both opportunity and health.
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