Educational Attainment and Lifetime Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Importance: Education is a social determinant of health. Quantifying its association with lifetime cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has public health importance. Objective: To calculate lifetime risk estimates of incident CVD and CVD subtypes and estimate years lived with and without CVD by education. Design, Setting, and Participants: Included community-based cohort studies with adjudicated cardiovascular events used pooled individual-level data from 1985 to 2015 of 6 prospective cohort studies. The study team assessed the association between education and lifetime CVD risk with modified Kaplan-Meier and Cox models accounting for competing risk of noncardiovascular death. The study team estimated years lived with and without CVD by education with the Irwin restricted mean and the utility of adding educational attainment to CVD risk assessment. Participants (baseline 40 to 59 years old and 60 to 79 years old) were without CVD at baseline and had complete education, cardiovascular risk factors, and prospective CVD outcomes data. Data were analyzed from January 2022 to September 2022. Exposures: Educational attainment (less than high school, high school completion, some college, or college graduate). Main outcome and measures: Cardiovascular events (fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke; CVD-related deaths; and total CVD encompassing any of these events). Results: There were 40 998 participants (23 305 female 56.2%) with a mean (SD) age of 58.1 (9.7) years for males and 58.3 (9.9) years for females. Compared with college graduates, those with less than high school or high school completion had higher lifetime CVD risks. Among middle-aged men, the competing hazard ratios (HRs) for a CVD event were 1.58 (95% CI, 1.38-1.80), 1.30 (95% CI, 1.10-1.46), and 1.16 (95% CI, 1.00-1.34) in those with less than high school, high school, and some college, respectively, compared with those with college completion. Among women, these competing HRs were 1.70 (95% CI, 1.49-1.95), 1.19 (95% CI, 1.05-1.35), and 0.98 (95% CI, 0.83-1.15). Individuals with higher education had longer duration of life prior to incident CVD. Education provided limited contribution toward enhancing CVD risk prediction. Conclusions and relevance: Lower education was associated with lifetime CVD risk across adulthood; higher education translated to healthy longevity. Educational policy initiatives may associate with long-term health benefits.