Table 2.
Association of educational quality composite index with cardiovascular outcomes (difference per standard deviation of index)
| Beta coefficient [95% CI] |
Odds ratio [95% CI] |
|
|---|---|---|
| Objective Health Outcomes | ||
| Systolic blood pressure | −0.79 [−1.80, 0.21] |
|
| Diastolic blood pressure | −0.62 [−1.35, 0.10] |
|
| Total cholesterol | −0.31 [−2.08, 1.46] |
|
| HDL cholesterol | 0.38 [−0.47, 1.24] |
|
| Ln(Triglycerides) | −0.018 [−0.050, 0.015] |
|
| LDL cholesterol | −0.12 [−4.46, 4.21] |
|
| Ln(C-reactive protein) | 0.0099 [−0.047, 0.067] |
|
| Ln(Telomere length) | 0.008 [−0.0082, 0.024] |
|
| Diabetesa | 0.98 [0.80, 1.10] |
|
| Self-reported Health Outcomes | ||
| Heart attack | 0.93 [0.79, 1.10] |
|
| Hypertension | 1.01 [0.93, 1.10] |
|
| Diabetes | 1.06 [0.93, 1.20] |
|
| Smokes now | 0.86* [0.77, 0.97] |
|
p<0.05
N = 34,770 overall, with smaller sample sizes for outcomes that were not collected in all waves or for all respondents (see Table 1). Study sample was drawn from repeated cross-sectional waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1971–2012. Analyses involved multivariable regressions, with robust standard errors clustered by state of birth. All models adjust for race, birth year, and state of birth, as well as state percent black, percent foreign-born, manufacturing jobs per capita, and inflation-adjusted manufacturing wages per manufacturing job.
For serum testing of diabetes, earlier survey waves used 2-hour glucose testing, while later survey waves used hemoglobin A1c. For consistency, we transformed these laboratory measures into a binary measure of whether the level exceeded the cut-off for diabetes (i.e., glucose ≥ 200 or hemoglobin A1c ≥ 6.5).