Table 4. Association of self-reported educational attainment with CVD and risk factors, with state fixed effects (OLS analysis).
| Outcome | HRS | NHANES | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coefficient for 1 Year of Education | Coefficient for More than High Schoola | Coefficient for More than High Schoola | |
| Self-reported | |||
| Hypertension | −0.0083** | −0.058** | −0.048** |
| (−0.010 to −0.0064) | (−0.072 to −0.044) | (−0.059 to −0.037) | |
| Diabetes | −0.010** | −0.080** | −0.042** |
| (−0.013 to −0.0082) | (−0.095 to −0.065) | (−0.050 to −0.034) | |
| Heart disease | −0.0094** | −0.066** | |
| (−0.011 to −0.0078) | (−0.080 to −0.052) | ||
| Smoking | −0.017** | −0.12** | −0.17** |
| (−0.020 to −0.014) | (−0.13 to −0.100) | (−0.18 to −0.15) | |
| Depression | −0.027** | −0.19** | |
| (−0.029 to −0.024) | (−0.21 to −0.17) | ||
| Anthropometric | |||
| BMI | −0.12** | −0.84** | −0.26** |
| (−0.15 to −0.099) | (−0.98 to −0.71) | (−0.43 to −0.084) | |
| Blood pressure | −0.63** | −4.00** | −2.47** |
| (−0.80 to −0.46) | (−5.11 to −2.89) | (−3.01 to −1.92) | |
| Biomarkers | |||
| Hyperglycemia | −0.0071** | −0.053** | −0.050** |
| (−0.0094 to −0.0049) | (−0.073 to −0.034) | (−0.063 to −0.038) | |
| Total cholesterol | 0.12 | 0.37 | 0.56 |
| (−0.19–0.43) | (−2.00–2.73) | (−0.61–1.72) | |
| HDL cholesterol | 0.45** | 2.39** | 2.48** |
| (0.32–0.57) | (1.62–3.17) | (2.01–2.95) | |
| LDL cholesterol | −1.90 | ||
| (−4.31–0.52) | |||
| Ln(Triglycerides) | −0.11** | ||
| (−0.13 to −0.087) | |||
| Ln(CRP) | −0.049** | −0.29** | −0.20** |
| (−0.056 to −0.041) | (−0.34 to −0.24) | (−0.24 to −0.15) | |
| Ln(Telomere length) | 0.0036* | 0.019 | 0.014** |
| (0.00071–0.0065) | (−0.0043–0.043) | (0.0077–0.021) | |
aReference: less than high school.
*p < 0.05.
**p < 0.01.
Confidence interval (95%) in parentheses. The primary predictor variable in HRS is a continuous variable for self-reported educational attainment in years. For NHANES, the primary predictor is the “more than high school” category of educational attainment (reference: less than high school), as NHANES does not include a continuous variable for education in all survey waves. A similar analysis with a categorical exposure variable was carried out in HRS for comparability. Analyses involved linear models using OLS, with robust standard errors clustered by state. All models adjust for individual-level gender, race, and year of birth and state-level percent urban, percent foreign born, percent black, manufacturing wages, and manufacturing jobs per capita.
Abbreviations: CRP, C-reactive protein; CVD, cardiovascular disease; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; HRS, Health and Retirement Study; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; OLS, ordinary least squares.