Education, in addition to improving employment prospects, sharpening the intellect and broadening one's horizons, may also be good for one's health. A new study, conducted at UB's Toshiba Stroke Research Center in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, revealed that people who did not complete 12 years of education had a higher risk of dying from stroke.
According to Adnan Qureshi, assistant professor of neurosurgery and lead author of the study, the less education a person has, the higher the risk for both stroke and heart disease.
The findings are based on information gathered in two National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys and their follow-ups. The surveys were originally conducted from 1970-1975 and 1976-1980, and then followed up on 15 years later.
"We were trying to see how social conditions affect one's health," said Qureshi.
According to Qureshi, the follow-up revealed that those participants who had not completed high school showed a 40-percent increase in risk of dying from stroke.
"The data showed no evidence that going back to school would change the risk for stroke," said Qureshi.
Qureshi said the lack of education could influence a person's health factors or their risk management.
While the discovery does show that people who did not complete high school had an elevated risk of stroke, the findings require further exploration to determine whether the absence of education truly plays a role in their deaths.
"We have a lot of questions and no answers to most," said Qureshi.
Qureshi said researchers are working now to establish links to causes for stroke.
"There are factors we don't know about," he said, but added that when new information becomes available, the researchers would re-examine their findings.
