Abstract
BackgroundLifestyle diseases and cardiovascular complications are dramatically increasing, but little is known about the impact of educational level and health behaviour in men and women in different populations. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between educational level (EL) and self-reported chronic diseases and health behaviour in both sexes.MethodsData were derived from the Austrian Health Interview Surveys 2006/2007, which includes 13 558 persons (50.9% females). The associations between EL and the risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, stroke and anxiety disorders or depression, nutrition, exercise, and smoking were evaluated. University education served as the reference category (EL4), the lowest educational level was required schooling only (EL0).ResultsOnly among women did the risk for diabetes mellitus and hypertension increase with decreasing educational level with the highest rates for EL0 OR [95% CI] adjusted for age, income, family status and lifestyle: 3.7 [1.7-8.0], and 2.5 [1.8-3.5], respectively. Only among the men, however, did the risk for stroke increase with decreasing educational level adjusted OR for EL0: 8.5 [1.7-42.7]. For anthropometric measures and lifestyle factors in both sexes the risk increased with decreasing EL.ConclusionEL affects lifestyle, overweight and obesity in both sexes. The apparent sex-specific differences in the association between the prevalence of some chronic disease with EL call for further investigation.
Highlights
Lifestyle diseases and cardiovascular complications are dramatically increasing, but little is known about the impact of educational level and health behaviour in men and women in different populations
There is little information available regarding the impact of educational level on lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity, as well as on the presence of chronic lifestyle-diseases like overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes and associated cardiovascular complications in population-based studies
Educational level appears related to socioeconomic status in many countries; the latter is clearly associated with obesity, which may be the
Summary
Lifestyle diseases and cardiovascular complications are dramatically increasing, but little is known about the impact of educational level and health behaviour in men and women in different populations. We aimed to investigate the association between educational level (EL) and self-reported chronic diseases and health behaviour in both sexes. There is little information available regarding the impact of educational level on lifestyle, nutrition and physical activity, as well as on the presence of chronic lifestyle-diseases like overweight/obesity, hypertension, diabetes and associated cardiovascular complications in population-based studies. Educational level appears related to socioeconomic status in many countries; the latter is clearly associated with obesity, which may be the alcohol and cigarette smoking, sedentary behaviour and less-healthful nutrition [5,6]. Health-related behaviour and life expectancy currently seem to be changing in both sexes [13]
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