February 10, 2024

More years of schooling improves all-cause mortality globally – Lancet

A systematic review and meta-analysis by the IHME-CHAIN collaborators (Lancet 23 January 2024) demonstrated that increased “years of schooling had a significant and consistent effect on all-cause mortality risk and that the protective effect of education persisted for female and male individuals, across all age groups, and all levels of Socio-demographic Index of the country where the data were collected. These findings are similar to the protective effects of a good diet and physical activity and the harms of risk factors such as smoking and alcohol.” This study adds to a longstanding literature demonstrating the fundamental role of education as THE principal social determinant of health.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/piis2468-2667(23)00306-7/fulltext