Key result
College education is linked to lower polypharmacy in white but not black or Hispanic individuals.
Why the study?
The association between college education and polypharmacy use and misuse, and its variation by race and ethnicity, was not well understood.
Does college education reduce polypharmacy across different racial and ethnic groups?
Cross-Sectional (n=144,589)
Does college education reduce polypharmacy across different racial and ethnic groups?
The protective effect of college education against polypharmacy varies significantly by race and ethnicity, being present in white individuals but largely absent in black and Hispanic individuals.
Caution against education-based polypharmacy risk stratification across races; leaves open race-specific mechanisms in observational data.
Objective We examine the association between college education and the number of medications used/misused in the past year. We also consider the possibility of differential socioeconomic returns to health for racial/ethnic minorities. Methods The data come from the 2015–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 144,589). Results In accordance with human capital theory, we found that, in the full sample and white subsample, college education was associated with lower levels of polypharmacy, even with adjustments for financial insecurity, health, and lifestyle. Consistent with the diminished return theory, we observed that college education was mostly unrelated to polypharmacy among black and Hispanic individuals. While health commodity theory was supported among Asians, health disparity theory was confirmed among individuals of other races and ethnicities. Conclusion The most important implication of our study is that polypharmacy can be simultaneously structured by durable systems of social stratification, including education, race, and ethnicity.
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Hill et al. (2022) conducted a cross-sectional in Polypharmacy (n=144,589). College education vs. No college education was evaluated on Number of medications used/misused in the past year (polypharmacy). College education was associated with lower levels of polypharmacy in the full sample and white subsample, but was mostly unrelated to polypharmacy among black and Hispanic individuals.
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